Reminiscences  of  Plymouth 

Luzerne  County,  Penna. 


A  Pen  Picture  of  the  Old  Landmarks  of  the 
Town;  the  Names  of  Old  Residents;  the 
Manners,  Customs  and  Descriptive  Scenes, 
and  Incidents  of  Its  Early  History. 


By 
SAMUEL   LIVINGSTON    FRENCH 

1914- 


Copyrighted,  1915,  by 

SAMUEL  LIVINGSTON  FRENCH 

Plymouth,  Penna. 


PREFACE 

SOME  time  ago  an  elderly  gentleman  of  near  my 
own  age  and  a  stranger  in  the  town,  called  upon 
me  in  search  of  information  regarding  some  of  the  old 
landmarks  of  Plymouth  which  he  remembered,  but  had 
not  seen  since  his  young  boyhood.  I  have  also  heard 
of  other  old  people,  who,  in  response  to  that  inherent 
longing,  or  natural  instinct  which  impels  a  return  to  the 
paternal  nest,  having  visited  the  town  to  view  the  scenes 
of  their  youth,  and  revive  the  precious  memories  of  their 
happy  childhood. 

There  are  doubtless  many  others  who  are  imbued 
with  the  same  natural  human  desire;  and  in  a  measure 
to  gratify  such,  it  was  suggested  to  me,  that  perhaps  I, 
as  one  of  the  few  remaining  relics  of  a  past  age  was 
properly  qualified  and  therefore  in  duty  bound,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  rescue  from  oblivion  and  perpetuate  the 
old  memories,  by  placing  on  record  enduring  evidence 
of  bygone  scenes  and  incidents.  In  the  contemplation  of 
that  task,  in  the  efforts  in  tracing  up  obliterated,  or  fast 
disappearing  landmarks,  I  have  been  somewhat  sur- 
prised to  discover  but  comparatively  few  persons  re- 
maining here  whose  knowledge  regarding  the  past  was 
in  that  respect  much,  if  any  better  or  more  reliable  than 
my  own. 

That  circumstance,  while  strangely  enough  arousing 
a  suspicion  in  my  mind  that  I  too  must  be  getting  old 
and  fossilized,  also  tended  to  add  force  to  the  sugges- 
tion that  perhaps  a  duty  was  devolving  upon  me  to  under- 
take a  task  which  in  the  course  of  nature,  "if  it  were 
done,  when  'tis  done,  then  'twere  well  it  were  done 
quickly." 


The  describing  and  recounting  of  old  scenes  and 
incidents  as  they  have  been  recalled  by  my  researches 
has  been  to  me  a  labor  of  love,  and  I  submit  the  results 
of  my  efforts  in  endeavoring  to  comply  with  the  injunc- 
tion, "rejoice  and  do  good,"  in  the  hope  that  by  reviving 
memories  of  long  forgotten  scenes  may  assist  perhaps 
some  despondent  natives  to  live  again  in  memory  the 
happy  days  of  their  youth. 


S.  L.  French. 


Plymouth^  Pa., 

December  15th,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  I. 

Early  History — Connecticut  Charter — Shawnee  Indians — Town 
Name — Erection  of  the  Borough — Petitioners  for — First 
Officials — Boundaries  of — Elections — Cliques  and  Fights.     I 

Chapter  II. 

Lower  End  of  Town — The  Old  Hodge  House — The  Wright 
Homestead — Silk  Industry — Mrs.  Ellen  Wright — Landscape 
Scenery — Samuel  Ransom — John  Kreidler — Thos.  Mast — 
Isaac  Kreidler — Home  Sweet  Home — Query  for  Naturalists 
— Old  Scenes — Hodge  Cemetery.  5 

Chapter  III. 

Col.  Ransom's  Homestead — His  Capture  by  Indians — Ira  Ran- 
som— The  "Swing  Gate" — School  Boy's  Pranks — Old  Sucker 
Hole  —  Round  Stakes — Thos.  Davenport's  House  —  Ira 
■  Davenport — His  Store — Post  Office — Mails  and  Stage  Coach 
— John  and  Elijah  Davenport — Cider  Press — John  B.  Smith's 
House — Jessop's  Hotel — Chas.  Water's  Shoe  Shop — Samuel 
Davenport's  Store — Chauncey  Reynolds'  House — Albert  Ga- 
briel— C.  E.  Young — Turner's  Tannery — "Aunt"  Fanny 
Turner — Turner's  Store — Wadham's  Store — The  M.  E. 
Church — Old  Kingston  Church.  I4 

Chapter  IV. 

Old  M.  E.  Parsonage — Donation  parties — H.  Gaylord's  Home- 
stead— Old  Store — James  Macfarlane — First  National  Bank 
— Conrad  Shafer — Draper  Smith's  Store — F.  E.  Spry — Par- 
dee and  Winters — C.  L.  Farnum — Jos.  Preston — C.  A. 
Kuschke — Gaylord's  Store — Capt.  Asher  Gaylord — Gaylord's 
Railroad  and  Wharf — Dietrick's  Hotel — Samuel  Turner — 
James  McAlarney — Eli  Bitteubender — Querin  Krothe — 
Noah  Wadham's  Homestead — Andrew  Shupp — Geo.  P. 
Richard's — "Squire"  Brown — Nesbitt  Homstead — Old  Scenes 
— Elm  Hill  and  Tree — John  J.  Shonk — Olewine — Culver — 
"Sammy"  Gould.  24 


Chapter  V. 

Coal  Street — Oliver  Davenport — Edwin  Davenport — Christopher 
Garrahan  —  Patrick  Cullen  —  Phoebe  Pringle  —  Carpenter 
Rinus — French's  Grist  Mill — John  Smith — "Aunt"  Charry 
Clark — The  French  Tunnel — Francis  J.  Smith — Calathum- 
pian  Serenades — The  Horse  Fiddle — The  "Big  Coal  Bed" — 
William  Dennis — Richard  Egbertson — Robt.  Davenport — 
Samuel  Vanloon — Benj.  and  Fuller  Reynolds — Calvin  and 
Samuel  Wadhams — Manny  fVharram — Benj.  Pringle — SamH 
Lewis — Sam'l  Harrison.  32 

Chapter  VI. 
Early  Religious  Services — The  Old  Academy — Lorenzo  Dow — 
Great  Religious  Revival — Revs.  Miles  and  Snowden — Pres- 
byterians— A  Personal  Episode  and  Erection  of  a  Church — 
First  Church  Edifice — Christian  Church — Early  Ministers  of 
— Early  Schools  and  Teachers — The  Bachelor's  Club — Their 
Rules  and  Proceedings — Benj.  Parke — Other  Teachers — 
Corporal  Punishment — The  Old  Lecture  Room  School  House 
— The  Spelling  School.  39 

Chapter  VII. 
Farming  Methods — Threshing  and  Marketing  Grain — Flax  In- 
dustry— The  Old  Spinning  Wheels — Dipping  Candles — Grist 
Mills — Coal  Industry — Building  of  Arks  and  Boats — Shaw- 
nee Against  the  World — Origin  of  Slogan — Methods  of  Pre- 
paring and  Shipping  Coal — Old  Records — Coal  Markets — 
Cost  of  Mining  and  Selling — Prices  for  Coal — Hard  Times 
— Deplorable  Conditions — Wages  and  Cost  of  Commodities. 

48 

Chapter  VIII. 
Early  Coal  Operators  and  Mines — Choke  Island — Broderick  and 
Conyngham's  Troubles — Exit  of  Individual  Operators  and  the 
Entrance  of  Corporations — Capture  of  Fugitive  Slaves — Bru- 
talities of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Laiu — Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.     56 

Chapter  IX. 
Reverie — Wild  Pigeons — Swimming — Rafting — A  Disappointing 
Experience — Traveling  Inconveniencies — Flood  of  1852  and 
the  Resulting  Hardships — Flood  of  1865 — Incidents  of  the 
Flood — Early  Military  Organizations — The  Shawnee  Rang- 
ers— General  Training — Martial  Music — Black  Jack — Later 
Military  Companies — Top  Heaviness  of  the  Military  Estab- 
lishments. 62 


Chapter  X. 

Early  Methods  of  Traveling — Weaver's  Stage  Line — Steamboats 
— The  Little  Jim — Transferring  Canal  Boats — Shoivs  and 
Circuses — Burial  Grounds  and  Cemeteries — Early  Medical 
Methods — Doctors — Bogus  Diplomas.  70 

Chapter  XI. 

Early  Methods  of  Weighing — System  of  Barter — Reason  for 
Peculiarity  of  Prices  of  Commodities — Currency  Conditions 
— Spanish  Coins — Fips  and  Shillings — Counterfeit  Notes — 
Era  of  Shinplasters — Customs  of  Early  Merchants — Means 
of  Travel — Wholesale  Merchants — Arrival  of  Goods — 
Pedlars  and  Their  Wares.  'j'j 

Chapter  XII. 

The  Past  and  the  Present,  Comparisons — The  "Appy  Og" — 
Mythical  Superior  Traits  of  Honesty  — Early  Habits  and 
Characteristics  of  People  —  Social  Customs  —  Sociability 
Among  Neighbors — Quilting  Parties — Visiting — Apple  Cuts 
and  Candy  Pulls — Deferences  to  Old  People — Incidents — 
The  400  Society — Town  Newspapers — Names  of  Business 
Men  and  Firms.  81 

Chapter   XIII. 

The  War  of  the  Rebellion — Captain  Gay  lord — Copperheads — 
Fishing  Creek  Confederacy — Skulkers — Funeral  of  First  Vic- 
tim— Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt — An  Incident — Bounty  Bonds 
— Railroad  Riots  of  1877 — Acts  of  Lawlessness — Arrival  of 
Troops — The  Molly  Maguires — Killing  of  Dunleavy.  87 

Chapter    XIV. 

The  Avondale  Disaster — Typhoid  Fever  Epidemic — The  Changes 
in  Population — A  Filial  Tribute — Conclusion.  91 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing 
Page. 


View  from  Wright  Homestead Frontispiece 

The  Wright  Homestead 6 

The  French  Homestead I2 

The  Big  Coal  Bed 36 

The  Old  Academy 39 

Academy  Street  from  Shawnee  Avenue T2 


Chapter  I. 

Early  History — Connecticut  Charter — Shawnee  Indians — Town 
Name — Erection  of  the  Borough — Petitioners  for — First 
Officials — Boundaries  of — Elections — Cliques  and  Fights 

T  N  the  Historical  Sketches  of  Plymouth  by  the 
Honorable  Hendrick  B.  Wright,  to  whose  history 
I  acknowledge  indebtedness  for  much  of  the  historical 
data  relating  to  the  earlier  history  of  the  town  which  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  in  the  following  pages, 
that  author  gives  the  date  of  "birth  of  Plymouth,"  as 
December  28th,  1768. 

It  was  one  of  the  noted  seventeen  townships  em- 
braced within  the  territory  vested  In  the  "Susquehanna 
Company,"  by  charter  granted  by  King  Charles  II.  of 
England,  In  1662,  and  known  as  the  "Connecticut 
Charter,"  which  covered  a  tract  of  land  extending  be- 
tween two  parallel  lines  of  latitude  some  fifty  miles  north 
and  south,  and  from  east  to  west,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  Oceans.  As  King  Charles^  In  his  generosity 
nineteen  years  later,  to-wit:  March  4,  1681,  granted 
precisely  the  same  tract  or  parcel  of  land  to  William 
Penn  and  his  associates,  known  as  the  "Proprietary 
Government  of  Pennsylvania,"  this  slight  lapse  of 
memory,  or  lack  of  knowledge  of  geography  on  the  part 
of  George,  was  subsequently  the  cause  of  some  very 
serious  misunderstandings,  and  differences  of  opinion  In 
the  minds  of  the  early  settlers,  to  say  nothing  about  the 
rights  and  claims  of  the  Shawnee  Tribe  of  Indians,  who 
were  the  original  landlords  and  proprietors  of  the  real 
estate  In  dispute.  But,  as  these  reminiscences  concern 
only  the  scenes  and  occurrences  transpiring  within  the 
last  hundred  years.  It  Is  not  my  purpose  to  mix  into  that 
quarrel,  nor  discuss  the  subject,  pro  and  con,  of  the  exer- 
cise therein,  of  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  which  in 


2  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

plain  vernacular,  means  the  acquisition,  under  color  of 
law,  of  valuable  possessions  by  brute  force;  further  than 
to  intimate  that  the  above-mentioned  clerical  or  geo- 
graphical error  created  a  very  unpleasant  muss  which 
lasted  many  years,  but  is  now  barred  out  from  con- 
troversy by  the  statute  of  limitations. 

The  town  of  Plymouth  is  often  in  derision,  disdain- 
fully called  "Black  Shawnee,"  when  referred  to  by  some 
well-to-do  people,  whose  non-aristocratic  ancestors  in  all 
probability  may  have  accumulated  the  wealth  which  they 
enjoy  by  selling  rum  over  the  counter  at  three  cents  a 
drink,  or  perhaps,  whose  barefooted  grandmothers  drove 
cows  to  pasture  on  the  mountain  sides  or  on  Shawnee 
Flats. 

The  name  "Shawnee"  ought  to  have  been  retained, 
as  being  more  original  and  appropriate,  and  much  more 
preferable  to  the  Puritan  one  of  "Plymouth,"  and,  in 
commemoration  of  the  original  aborigines,  whose  belli- 
gerent characteristics  were  doubtless  inherited  by  their 
later  successors,  and  in  a  measure,  is  being  perpetuated 
in  the  well-known  slogan  of  "Shawnee  against  the 
World!" 

The  present  Borough  of  Plymouth  was  erected  by 
decree  of  Honorable  John  N.  Conyngham,  President 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Luzerne 
County,  on  the  23rd  day  of  April,  A.  D.,  1866,  upon 
the  recommendation  of  the  Grand  Jury,  upon  petition 
therefor  of  the  following  named  residents,  to-wit: 

John  B,  Smith  H.  Gaylord 

Peter  Shupp  Draper  Smith 

JosiAH  M.  Eno  Daniel  Gardiner 

A.  R.  Matthews  William  Jenkins 

Geo.  p.  Richards  S.  M.  Davenport 

Edward  Griffith  Lewis  Boughton 

A.  F.  Shupp  John  J.  Shonk 

James  McAlarney  J.  P.  Davenport 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa. 


Eli  Bittenbender 
David  McDonald 
c.  a.  kuschke 
Andrew  F.  Levi 
QuERiN  Krothe 
David  Madden 
John  Dodson 
Darius  Gardiner 
John  Cobley 
W.  L.  Lance,  Jr. 
J.  E.  Smith 
R.  N.  Smith 
John  Dennis 
David  Levi 
W.  W.  Lance 
Wm.  W.  Dietrick 
James  Hutchinson 
George   Brown 
Oliver  Davenport 
Samuel  French 
A.  Gabriel 


Theodore  Renshaw 
Edward  G.  Jones 
J.  L.  Nesbitt 
J.  W.  Weston 
J.  H.  Waters 
John  E.  Halleck 

E.  R.  Wolfe 

F.  E,  Spry 

C.  F.  Derby 
Anthony  Duffy 

D.  Brown 

A.  G.   RiCKARD 

T.  P.  Macfarlane 
W.  L.  Lance 
Lewis  Gorham 
John  Jessop 
A.  S.  Davenport 
A.  Hutchinson 
Brice  S.  Blair 
John  S.  Geddis 
C.  H.  Wilson,  M.D. 


The  first  borough  election  under  that  decree  was 
held  in  the  "Old  Academy,"  under  the  auspices  of  Oliver 
Davenport  as  judge,  and  John  J.  Shonk  and  Ira  Daven- 
port as  inspectors,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  the  follow- 
ing May,  when  Elijah  C.  Wadhams  was  elected  Burgess. 

The  boundaries  of  the  borough  embraced  approxi- 
mately the  territory  extending  from  the  1-ine  of  No.  1 1 
Coal  Breaker  property  of  the  L.  &  W.  B.  Coal  Com- 
pany on  the  east,  to  the  old  Mud  Tunnel  Road — prob- 
ably a  mile  and  a  half  distant — on  the  west;  and  from 
the  river  on  the  south  up  to  a  little  beyond  a  line  parallel 
with  Back  Street,  now  known  as  Shawnee  Avenue,  or 
from  near  the  river,  excluding  farm  lands,  to  near  the 
foot  of  the  mountain.  The  borough  was  divided  into 
two  wards,  the  East  and  the  West,  the  dividing  line 
being  Academy  Street,  and  the  borough  elections  were 
held  in  the  Old  Academy  where  the  township  elections 
had  previously  been  held. 


4  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

These  township  or  general  elections  in  the  days  of 
my  boyhood  were  always  looked  upon  as  gala  days.  On 
those  occasions  the  pent  up  enthusiasm  of  the  patriots 
would  make  itself  manifest,  and  in  consequence  there 
would  be  more  or  less  excitement  the  entire  day.  During 
the  preliminary  campaigns  the  ardor  of  the  voters  would 
be  frequently  aroused  and  kept  at  proper  temperature 
by  means  of  "flag-pole  raisings,"  on  which  occasions 
speeches  by  prominent  orators  were  the  dominant  fea- 
tures. Hickory  poles,  in  reference  to  "Old  Hickory" — 
General  Jackson — would  symbolize  the  loco-foco  or 
Democratic  party,  and  pine,  that  of  the  whigs  or  Repub- 
lican, and  which  were  also  called  "liberty  poles."  On 
the  tops  of  these  poles  there  would  usually  be  retained 
the  natural  branches  and  foliage  that  there  might  be  no 
mistake  made  as  to  their  political  identity. 

The  voters  on  election  days  would  assemble  from  the 
Kingston  line  on  the  east,  to  West  Nanticoke  on  the 
west,  and  almost  invariably,  when  the  Nanticoke  contin- 
gent had  arrived  upon  the  ground  in  the  afternoon,  there 
would  start  a  fight,  and  torn  clothes  and  bloody  heads 
would  be  conspicuously  in  evidence.  These  patriotic 
ebullitions,  however,  must  not  be  wholly  credited  to  the 
Nanticoke  boys,  for  since  the  earliest  times  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  jealous  clique  existing  between  the  "up- 
town" and  "downtown"  sections  of  the  community;  the 
dividing  line  between  the  factions  being  the  old  Acad- 
emy; and,  like  their  aboriginal  predecessors,  when  the 
two  factions  happened  to  meet  in  numbers,  there  was 
likely  to  be  a  scrimmage.  At  one  of  these  general  elec- 
tions I  recall,  a  new  element  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Welsh  Hill,  or  Poke  Hollow,  was  injected,  which  united 
the  factions,  and  there  resulted  a  general  battle  in  which 
clubs  and  stones  were  very  much  in  evidence.     The  in- 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  5 

vaders,  however,  were  ignominiously  driven  from  the 
field  without  any  serious  damage  resulting.  Another  in- 
stance about  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  of  the  rebellion, 
when  a  clash  occurred  between  a  copper-head  preacher 
named  Headly  and  one  of  the  prominent  citizens  for  a 
time  threatened  more  serious  results. 


Chapter  II. 

Lower  End  of  Town — The  Old  Hodge  House — The  Wright 
Homestead — Silk  Industry — Mrs.  Ellen  Wright — Landscape 
Scenery — Samuel  Ransom — John  Kreidler — Thos.  Mast — 
Isaac  Kreidler — Home  Sweet  Home — Query  for  Naturalists 
— Old  Scenes — Hodge  Cemetery. 

T  N  recounting  my  recollections  and  impressions 
of  the  scenes,  old  landmarks  and  old  residents  of 
Plymouth,  I  will  commence  at  the  lower,  or  west  end  of 
the  borough;  that  locality  being  the  place  of  my  birth 
and  where  the  larger  part  of  my  boyhood  days  were 
spent;  and  thence,  following  the  main  or  principal  thor- 
oughfare eastward,  will  endeavor  to  picture  the  scenes  in 
regular  order  as  I  recall  them  upwards  of  sixty  years 
ago: 

Beginning  at  a  point  on  the  lower  side  of  the  road 
nearby  the  bridge  which  crosses  the  excavation  made 
for  the  old  Jersey  plane,  there  stood  an  old  black  house 
two  stories  high  which,  I  think,  was  known  as  the  "Old 
Hodge  House,"  and  where  lived  in  early  days,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken,  a  man  named  Skadden,  who  was  a  cabinet- 
maker. I  have  in  my  possession  an  old  writing  desk  and 
bookcase  more  than  a  hundred  years  old  which  belonged 
to  my  grandfather;  it  is  made  of  cherry  wood,  which 
grew  on  Shawnee  Flats,  and  which,  I  believe,  was  made 
by  Mr.  Skadden,  and  still  attests  the  superiority  of  his 


6  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

workmanship.  This  house  was  later  occupied  by  a 
family  named  Bangs,  and  later  still  by  Carpenter  Rinus, 
an  old  citizen,  and  at  the  time  of  the  building  of  the 
L.  &  B.  R.R.,  Anthony  Duffy,  a  section  boss,  lived  there. 
Mr.  Duffy,  who  was  quite  an  original,  afterwards  be- 
came one  of  Plymouth's  foremost  and  enterprising  citi- 
zens. He  built  Duffy's  Hall,  now  occupied  as  a  saloon 
and  public  hall  by  F.  L.  Donn.  He  used  to  tell  of  an 
opportunity  he  once  had  of  buying  a  town  site  in  Ireland 
for  a  pair  of  boots,  and  the  only  reason  the  purchase 
was  not  made  was  because  he  didn't  have  the  boots. 

A  little  further  down  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
road,  in  a  little  one  and  a  half  story  building  there  lived 
an  old  colored  man  with  a  white  wife,  who  was  known 
as  Black  Anthony.  This  house  was  later  occupied  bv 
Thomas  Worman.  Coming  up  the  road,  on  the  upper 
side,  near  the  Mud  Tunnel  Road,  stood  the  large  Andrus 
barn,  so  named  for  a  former  occupant  of  a  red  house  a 
few  rods  further  up.  Directly  in  front  of  this  house  and 
on  the  lower  side  of  the  road,  stood  a  large  walnut  tree, 
and  near  it  was  a  road  leading  down  to  my  step  grand- 
father's barn,  behind  which  there  usually  stood  several 
large  stacks  of  hay  and  grain.  Almost  precisely  on  this 
spot  now  stands  the  fan  house  and  Wright  slope  of  the 
Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Company. 

Coming  up  on  the  upper  side  of  the  main  road  was 
the  dwelling  house  of  my  step-grandfather,  Joseph 
Wright,  the  father  of  Hendrick  B.,  Caleb  E.  and  Har- 
rison Wright.  This  house  is  yet  standing,  though  in  a 
dilapidated  condition.  On  the  westerly  side  of  this  house 
there  used  to  be  a  stream  of  clear  water  and  by  the  side 
of  the  road  stood  a  public  watering  trough.  Here  was 
also  a  beautiful  grove  of  mulberry  trees  covering  prob- 
ably two  or  three  acres  of  ground,  and  there,  when  a  boy, 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  7 

I  used  to  spread  salt  in  long  troughs  for  the  benefit  of  a 
flock  of  sheep,  and  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  my  task 
was  to  gather  mulberry  leaves  to  feed  my  grandmother's 
silk  worms,  which  she  raised  in  the  front  room  of  her 
house,  where  they  were  spread  out  on  long  tables  built 
for  the  purpose.  They  grew  to  be  large  green,  repulsive 
looking  things,  about  the  size  of  a  man's  finger,  and 
when  fully  engaged  in  devouring  the  leaves,  their  masti- 
cation exertions  were  quite  noisy.  I  don't  just  remem- 
ber the  process,  but  after  a  short  period  these  nasty 
looking  varments  would  roll,  or  transform  themselves 
into  the  most  beautiful  golden  cocoons,  which  my  grand- 
mother would  somehow  or  other  manipulate  into  silk 
thread,  which  was  later  transformed  into  stockings  or 
other  articles  of  wearing  apparel.  She  also  had  a 
weaver's  loom  in  another  building  in  the  rear  of  the 
house,  where,  like  others  of  her  neighbors,  she  wove 
wool  and  flaxen  cloths.  In  the  yard  beside  the  garden 
fence  there  stood  a  tall  hop  pole — a  familiar  sight  at 
nearly  all  the  dwellings — where  a  profusion  of  hops  were 
grown  for  use  in  making  yeast  to  raise  bread  and  for  the 
manufacture  of  hop  poultices,  but  these  articles  are  now 
numbered  among  the  lost  arts  and  about  the  only  useful 
purpose  this,  valuable  vegetable  promoter  of  health  and 
comfort  now  serves  in  this  enlightened  age  is  in  the 
manufacture  of  beer,  with  which  to  raise — well,  domestic 
infelicity. 

My  grandmother,  who  died  in  the  ninety-seventh 
year  of  her  age,  was  in  very  many  respects  a  most  re- 
markable woman.  She  was  a  great  reader,  well  versed 
in  all  the  current  events  of  the  day,  and  I  have  reason 
to  believe,  she  thoroughly  understood  the  almanac  and 
knew  the  Bible  almost  by  heart,  from  Genesis  to  Reva- 
lations,  including  the  Apochrypha.    I  lived  with  her  when 


8  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

quite  a  young  man,  and  upon  returning  from  church  on 
Sundays,  where  I  sometimes  went,  if  I  could  manage  to 
remember  but  three  or  four  words  of  the  text,  she  could 
most  always  locate,  if  not  repeat  it.  One  night  I  was  out 
pretty  late — I  was  old  enough  to  attend  "apple  cuts" — 
and  I  came  into  the  house  on  tip-toe,  and  as  I  imagined, 
had  made  a  safe  retreat.  The  next  morning  she  said  to 
me,  "Livingston,  what  time  did  you  come;,  in  last  night?" 
"Oh,"  I  replied,  "I  guess  it  must  have  been  about  lO 
o'clock."  "Well!"  she  said,  "the  moon  didn't  rise  last 
night  until  after  i  o'clock,  and  it  was  some  time  after 
that  before  you  came  in." 

There  was  no  immediate  occasion  for  any  further 
argument,  and  I  had  urgent  business  out  in  the  yard. 

In  front  of  this  house  was  a  beautiful  view  of  broad 
and  fertile  fields  and  meadows,  where  many  a  day  I  have 
worked  at  hoeing  corn  or  making  hay,  but  this  is  now 
all  obscured  and  obliterated;  the  greater  portion  of  the 
landscape  being  covered  over  with  huge  piles  of  culm 
and  debris  from  the  old  Washington  coal  breaker  and 
the  Wright  slope,  and  its  former  beauty  exists  only  in 
memory. 

A  few  rods  on  further  up  the  road  was  the  residence 
of  Samuel  Ransom — yet  standing.  This  house  was 
originally  built  for  use  as  a  hotel,  but  was  not  so  used 
within  my  remembrance.  On  the  lower  side  of  the  road 
and  in  front  of  the  house  stood  his  barn,  and  just  above 
the  house  was  the  dairy  house  which  was  supplied  with 
water  from  a  small  stream  coming  from  a  spring  a  little 
way  above.  Just  below  this  and  near  the  road  was  the 
hennery,  and  on  the  upper  side  of  the  road  was  a  public 
watering  trough.  These  last  named  premises  later  gave 
place  to  the  residence  and  surroundings  of  William  L. 
Lance. 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  9 

Samuel  Ransom  had  several  children,  only  three  of 
whom  I  recall  as  living  with  him.  They  were  Court- 
right  and  Jamison,  both  near  my  own  age,  and  a  younger 
daughter,  Margretta.  There  was  also  a  daughter, 
Hannah,  who  died.  They  subsequently  removed  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Muncy,  on  the  west  branch  of  the 
Susquehanna. 

Coming  a  little  farther  up  and  on  the  same  side  of 
the  road,  I  have  a  faint  recollection  of  there  having 
stood  a  blacksmith's  shop  conducted  by  a  colored  man 
known  as  "Black  John,"  and  next  above,  there  stands 
yet,  a  one  and  a  half  story  red  house  where  lived  in  my 
earliest  recollection,  Elias  Petty,  who  drove  team  for  my 
father.  Mrs.  Katy  Gabriel  also  at  one  time  lived  there. 
Later,  this  building  was  converted  into  and  used  as  a 
store  by  my  father.  It  is  now  used  as  a  tenement  house. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  was  the  wheelwright 
shop  and  residence  of  John  Kreidler,  and  the  black- 
smith shop  and  residence  of  Thomas  Mast. 

Almost  in  front  of  Kreidler's  shop,  and  quite  in  the 
roadway,  there  stood  a  very  large  walnut  tree.  This 
wheelwright  shop  and  residence  was  afterwards  occu- 
pied by  Isaac  Kreidler,  who  used  to  make  for  us  boys 
hand  sleds  with  oak  runners,  for  which  he  charged,  first 
a  shilling  (i2>^  cents),  then  15  cents  each,  which  was  a 
fabulous  sum  of  money;  later  he  declared  he  could  not 
afford  to  make  any  more  for  less  than  25  cents,  which 
was  an  utterly  prohibitory  price,  and  that  industry 
ceased.  In  emergent  cases,  he  would  also  occasionally 
make  coffins.  These  were  made  with  double  folding  lids 
and  were  invariably  stained  red. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Mast,  which  is  yet  standing, 
was  afterwards  occupied  by  the  family  of  Robert  Hun- 
ter, who  drove  the  Chauncey  tunnel,  the  coal  mine  now 


10  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

operated  by  the  George  F.  Lee  Coal  Company.  Mr. 
Hunter  had  a  large  family;  two  of  his  sons,  Robert  and 
James,  served  in  the  army  during  the  war  of  the  re- 
bellion, and  a  daughter,  Ellen,  married  Philip  Keller, 
and  was  the  mother  of  Joseph  H.  Schwartz's  first  wife. 
Mr.  Mast  removed  to  the  West  Branch  of  the  Susque- 
hanna. 

John  Kreidler  had  two  children,  George  and  Sabina. 
The  family  removed  to  Illinois,  and  George  died  from 
the  effects  of  wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  Pittsburgh 
Landing. 

Next  in  order  comes  the  most  interesting  place  to  me 
of  all,  the  old  paternal  homestead.  On  the  upper  side 
of  the  road  there  stands  today  the  main  part  of  the  old 
stone  house  which  was  probably  built  by  a  man  named 
Coleman,  who  was  of  the  early  large  property  owners  in 
Plymouth,  or  possibly,  by  James  Hodge,  who  had  for- 
merly lived  in  it;  and,  although  it  is  probably  more  than 
a  hundred  years  old,  is  apparently  in  as  good  condition 
now  as  ever.  There,  on  the  28th  day  of  September, 
1839,  I  first  saw  the  light  of  day,  and  there,  barring  the 
time  I  spent  away  at  school  or  in  the  army,  I  spent  the 
most  of,  and  the  happiest  days  of  my  early  life.  How 
often  I  recall,  and  realize  the  truth  of  the  words  of 
my  revered  old  maiden  aunt,  who,  when  I  would  be 
fretting  and  worrying  over  some  boyish  troubles,  would 
say:  "Poor  child,  he  is  living  the  happiest  days  of  his 
life  and  don't  know  it." 

The  front  and  side  of  the  house  was  almost  entirely 
covered  over  with  climbing  ivy,  and  the  spacious  yard 
was  filled  with  large  black  cherry  and  other  trees  and 
shrubbery,  affording  abundant  and  delightful  shade  in 
hot  weather,  and  likewise,  a  safe  retreat  for  innumer- 
able birds  of  varied  kinds  and  plumage,  in  which  to  hold 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  1 1 

their  daily  concerts.  But  these  beautiful  feathered 
musicians  of  nature,  like  the  original  aborigines,  have  en- 
tirely disappeared  before  the  onward  sweep  of  civiliza- 
tion; most  of  their  species,  if  not  now  become  extinct, 
are  but  reminiscences  of  natural  history,  and  the  sweet 
melody  of  birds  has  given  place  to  yelping  mongrel  dogs 
— and  such  is  civilization. 

This  diversion  in  the  interests  of  the  feathered  tribe 
recalls  an  incident  which  perhaps  will  be  of  interest  to 
naturalists.  One  day  as  I  was  approaching  the  house 
through  the  front  yard,  my  attention  was  attracted  to 
the  peculiar  antics  of  a  small  bird,  flitting  to  and  fro 
among  the  vines  with  drooping  wings  and  apparently  in 
distress.  I  walked  towards  it  and  came  very  near  put- 
ting my  hand  on  a  big  black  snake  which  was  coiled 
around  the  trunk  of  the  vine  some  four  or  five  feet  above 
the  ground.  I  stepped  back  and  for  a  few  moments 
watched  the  bird,  which,  with  plaintive  cry  would  every 
time  come  closer  and  closer,  apparently  fearing  to  ap- 
proach, yet  powerless  to  resist.  I  shot  the  snake  and 
threw  it  out  on  the  grass,  and  for  several  hours  after 
that  bird  would  hop  around  and  near  it,  acting  precisely 
as  it  did  in  the  vines,  all  the  time  making  the  same  dole- 
ful cry.  Was  not  that  bird  charmed  by  the  snake?  But 
to  resume  again  the  thread  of  my  story;  there,  at  the  side 
of  the  house  near  the  kitchen  door  and  under  the  shade 
of  a  huge  walnut  tree,  stood  the  old  wooden  pump  with 
its  long  iron  handle — "How  dear  to  my  heart  are  the 
scenes  of  my  childhood."  On  that  iron  handle  I  once 
on  a  banter,  "stuck"  my  tongue  on  a  frosty  morning;  it 
stuck  all  right  to  my  great  sorrow. 

On  the  easterly  side  and  a  few  yards  distant  ran 
the  Ransom  Creek,  which  in  my  earliest  recollections 
was  a  stream  of  clear  water.     There  I  used  to  play  with 


12  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

sail  boats  and  water  wheels,  and  there  in  early  spring  my 
father's  sheep  were  brought  to  be  washed  and  sheared. 
Among  that  flock  of  sheep  I  have  reason  to  remember, 
was  the  "old  ram,"  so  well  known  to  many  men  and 
boys  whose  great  delight  was  to  tease  him  in  the  pasture 
lot  above  the  barn,  and  who  thus  became  so  ferocious 
that  my  father  hung  on  his  horns,  covering  his  face  and 
giving  him  a  very  grotesque  appearance,  a  large  piece  of 
sole  leather  with  small  eyeholes  cut  in  it,  as  a  means  of 
protective  warning  to  strangers  who  might  happen  to 
come  within  his  range. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  house  were  the  barns  and 
sheds,  to  the  right  of  which  there  was  formerly  an  apple 
orchard,  and  a  little  farther  up  where  tenement  houses 
now  stand  was  a  beautiful  grove  of  oak  trees,  where 
Sunday  School  picnics  were  sometimes  held. 

From  the  barnyard,  a  narrow  lane,  lined  with  mul- 
berry trees  led  up  the  hill  into  an  apple  orchard,  near  the 
east  side  of  which,  later,  ran  the  old  Washington  plane; 
and  in  the  lower  corner  of  this  orchard,  under  the  shade 
of  a  large  wild  cherry  tree,  was  located  a  small  private 
burying  ground  of  the  Hodge  family,  for  James  Hodge 
had  formerly  lived  in  the  homestead.  This  burial  place 
filled  with  briar  bushes  and  weeds,  was  surrounded  by  a 
rather  dilapidated  stone  wall,  and  within  it  was  a  large 
tomb  or  vault,  which  in  turn  was  surrounded  with  a 
wooden  fence,  the  corner  posts  of  which  were  sur- 
mounted with  large  wooden  urns.  This  particular 
tomb  always  impressed  me,  when  a  boy,  with  a  feeling 
of  awe,  and  close  beside  it  was  another  grave,  on  the 
head-stone  of  which  I  recall  the  horrifying  inscription : 

"Remember,  friend,  as  you  pass  by, 
As  you  are  now,  so  once  was  I." 

This   graveyard   is  now   entirely  obliterated,   not   a 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  13 

vestige  of  it  remains;  the  dead,  like  the  old,  are  in  the 
way,  and  must  make  room  for  progress;  and  thus,  like 

"Imperial  Caeser,  dead  and  turned  to  clay, 
May  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

Returning  again  to  the  homestead,  on  the  westerly 
side  and  but  a  few  feet  distant,  was  a  frame  building 
built  originally  for  a  carriage  house.  This  my  father 
fitted  up  as  a  private  school  room  for  us  children,  under 
the  tutelage  of  my  elder  sister.  There  being  ample 
room,  and  no  detriment  to  proper  instruction  thereby,  a 
few  of  the  neighbors'  children  were  admitted  as  pupils. 
Of  these,  I  recall  the  names  of  Mary  and  Ellen  Garra- 
han,  Esther  and  Isabel  Bulkley,  Sam  McNulty,  Wilson 
Wright  and  Hannah  Miller,  who  worked  for  my  grand- 
mother. This  school  was  successfully  continued  for 
several  years,  and  after  its  abandonment  the  building  was 
converted  into  an  office  and  private  club  room,  where, 
under  the  leadership  of  W.  Z.  Hatcher,  a  near  neighbor, 
Will  and  De  Haven  Lance,  my  brother  and  myself  used 
to  meet  most  every  evening  and  practice  as  a  string 
band.  We  had  a  flute,  two  or  three  violins,  and  a  violin- 
cello,  and  made  pretty  good  music.  Those,  indeed,  were 
happy  days. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from  the  house  was 
a  one-story  schoolhouse,  but  this  I  will  describe  in  an- 
other chapter. 

In  the  preceding  descriptions,  as  in  those  to  follow, 
I  have  endeavored  to  picture  the  old  town  as  I  remem- 
ber it  many  years  ago.  The  intervening  spaces  between 
the  buildings  mentioned,  have,  in  many  instances,  since 
been  solidly  built  up. 


Chapter  III. 

Col.  Ransom's  Homestead — His  Capture  by  Indians — Ira  Ran- 
som— The  "Swing  Gate" — School  Boy's  Pranks — Old  Sucker 
Hole  —  Round  Stakes  —  Thos.  Davenport's  House  —  Ira 
Davenport — His  Store — Post  Office — Mails  and  Stage  Coach 
— John  and  Elijah  Davenport — Cider  Press — John  B.  Smith's 
House — Jessop's  Hotel — Chas.  Water's  Shoe  Shop — Samuel 
Davenport's  Store — Chauncey  Reynolds*  House — Albert  Ga- 
briel— C.  E.  Young — Turner's  Tannery — "Aunt"  Fanny 
Turner — Turner's  Store — Wadham's  Store — The  M.  E. 
Church — Old  Kingston  Church. 

Z*^  ROSSING  Ransom's  Creek  to  the  eastward,  and 
^^  near  its  grass  covered  bank,  under  the  shade  of 
sturdy  old  oaks,  stood  the  large  red  dwelling  house  of 
that  old  revolutionary  veteran,  "Col."  George  P.  Ran- 
som, and  of  which  only  the  depression  in  the  ground  to 
mark  the  place  which  was  once  the  cellar  is  now  in  evi- 
dence. This  house  faced  broadside  to  the  roadway  with 
a  wide  doorway  in  the  center,  in  the  entrance  of  which 
hung  one  or  two  rifles  with  their  necessary  accoutrements 
of  powder  horns  and  leather  pouches,  together  with  some 
relics  of  the  hunter's  skill  in  the  form  of  buck's  horns. 
To  the  rear,  and  a  little  to  one  side  under  a  large  oak, 
was  a  small  stone  dairy  or  milk  house  supplied  with  a 
running  stream  of  clear  cold  water  which  served  the  pur- 
pose of  a  refrigerator.  Further  up  the  creek  was  a  long, 
one  and  a  half  story  double  dwelling  house,  occupied  at 
one  time  by  Edward  (Neddy)  Crowell,  and  a  black- 
smith named  Fletcher.  It  was  also,  I  think,  known  as 
the  "Black  John  House."  In  front,  at  one  side  of  the 
Ransom  house,  and  near  the  roadside,  there  was  an  open 
wagonshed  where  the  old  Colonel's  pony  coach  was  kept. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  stood  the  barn  with  a 
long  open  cow  shed,  at  the  side. 

My    earliest   recollection    of    Colonel    Ransom    was 
when  he  walked  with  two  canes,  the  possession  of  which 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  15 

I  have  been  told,  I  would  cry  for.  He  would  drive  out 
with  a  pair  of  ponies  hitched  to  an  open-top  conveyance 
of  the  buckboard  style,  but  in  his  later  years  he  was  con- 
fined during  the  day  to  a  roller  chair  under  the  charge 
of  Charles  (Mutt)  Barber,  who  would  attend  to  his 
wants  in  preparing  his  tobacco — of  which  he  was  an  in- 
veterate user — in  the  form  of  convenient  sized  quids, 
and  seeing  that  the  whiskey  bottle  was  kept  filled.  I 
remember  that  one  evening,  when  I  was  a  small  boy,  my 
aunt  took  me  over  to  call  on  him  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  him  relate  his  adventures  with  the  Indians;  of 
how  he,  and  some  of  his  comrades,  while  visiting  some 
girl  friends  were  captured  in  a  house  which  stood  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  road  near  the  spot  where  Whitman's 
shoe  store  now  stands;  of  their  journey  to  Canada,  their 
subsequent  escape  therefrom,  and  the  difficulties  and  pri- 
vations they  underwent  while  travelling  through  the 
forests  in  making  their  way  homeward.  These  tales 
were  of  thrilling  interest  to  me,  and  were  only  marred 
by  his  extreme  reticence  in  the  telling,  and  his  very  vigor- 
ous expectoration  efforts  as  he  sat  in  his  arm-chair  in 
front  of  the  huge  open  fire-place.  He  died  in  1850,  aged 
about  90  years.  I  was  present  at  his  burial,  which  took 
place  with  military  honors  in  the  old  Shupp  burying 
ground.  His  son,  Ira,  a  brave  veteran  of  the  late  war 
of  the  rebellion,  and  now  upwards  of  92  years  of  age,  is 
still  living  in  good  health  on  his  farm  in  Jackson  town- 
ship; a  remarkable  and  probably  unparalleled  instance  in 
the  county,  if  not  in  the  State,  of  a  living,  real  "son  of 
the  Revolution." 

Coming  on  further  up  the  street  on  the  same  side,  on 
a  knoll  at  the  intersection  of  Coal  and  Main  Streets,  and 
on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  store  building  of  the 
late  Edwin  Davenport,  stood  the  little  one-story  frame 


1 6  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

schoolhouse  which  was  afterwards  removed  further 
down  the  street.  Directly  In  front  of  the  schoolhouse 
was  the  "swinggate,"  which  closed  the  flat  road  during 
the  growing  and  harvest  season  from  the  depredations 
of  vagrant  cattle  and  swine.  This  road  led  straight 
down  to  "Garrison  Hill,"  where  was  always  a  thrifty 
growth  of  willows,  and  to  which  place  the  boys  of  the 
school  would  be  sent  by  the  teacher  to  get  his  supply  of 
chastisement  rods.  Sometimes  these  would  be  so  in- 
geniously twisted,  or  perforated  before  delivery,  as  to 
make  their  stinging  qualities  less  painful.  Continuing 
straight  down  to  the  river  was  the  old  "sucker  hole," 
where,  in  early  spring,  was  always  to  be  found  a  dozen 
or  more  enthusiastic  fishermen  with  poles  and  lines  fish- 
ing for  suckers. 

There  being  considerable  space  In  the  roadway  be- 
tween the  schoolhouse  and  the  swing  gate  that  was  a 
favorite  spot  on  which  men  and  boys  would  meet  to  play 
"round  stakes,"  which  was  the  original  baseball  game. 
In  these  contests,  Eb.  and  Dow  Rinus,  both  wiry  ath- 
letes, were  always  the  star  players,  and  with  one  of  them 
at  the  bat  and  the  other  as  pitcher,  there  was  always 
some  lively  action.  Dow,  by  the  way,  was  a  very  expert 
fiddler;  he  played  entirely  by  air,  and  his  services  were 
always  in  great  demand  at  the  country  dances.  On  the 
lefthand  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  flat  road  was  the 
barn  and  sheds  of  Oliver  Davenport,  with  the  usual  com- 
plement of  grain  and  hay  stacks  surrounding. 

On  the  hill  past  the  schoolhouse  next  came  the  old 
house  with  Its  high  stone  steps  in  front,  the  former  resi- 
dence, I  believe,  of  Thomas  Davenport.  My  first  recol- 
lection of  this  building  was  when,  as  a  small  boy,  I  at- 
tended the  funeral  there  of  some  young  man,  which  was 
conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Odd  Fellows.    The 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  17 

new  and  splendid  brick  silk  factory  of  the  Atwood's  now 
occupies  the  site  of  this  building.  A  little  further  on,  Is 
the  brick  dwelling  house  of  the  late  Ira  Davenport.  I 
believe  this,  and  the  one  occupied  by  the  late  R.  N.  Smith 
a  little  farther  up,  were  the  first  brick  dwellings  to  be 
erected  in  Plymouth,  unless  possibly  the  one  where  Sam- 
uel Davenport  lived.  The  next  one,  I  think,  was  the 
hotel  built  by  John  Nesbitt  on  Elm  Hill,  and  now  occu- 
pied by  George  B.  Shonk,  and  the  first  brick  store  to  be 
erected  in  town  was  that  of  E.  C.  Wadhams.  Directly 
in  front  of  Ira  Davenport's  house  was  the  old  Daven- 
port barn  and  sheds,  and  on  the  same  side  and  farther 
east,  still  stands  his  store  established  In  1845.  The  space 
between  this  and  the  Flat  road  and  extending  down  that 
road  some  distance,  is  now  almost  solidly  built  up  with 
frame  houses,  conspicuous  by  the  generous  number  of 
beer  saloons  therein. 

Davenport's  store  In  my  boyhood  days  was  one  of 
the  prominent  places  "downtown."  It  was  Democratic 
headquarters,  and  there  in  the  evening  would  assemble 
the  patriots  of  the  neighborhood  who  would  line  up  on 
the  counters,  spit  tobacco  juice,  swap  stories  and  discuss 
politics  and  town  scandal  generally.  It  was,  I  think, 
during  the  administration  of  President  Pierce  that  the 
post  office  was  removed  here  from  the  store  of  Draper 
Smith  in  the  upper  end  of  town.  Postage  on  letters  in 
those  days  was  five  cents  prepaid,  or  ten  cents  on  de- 
livery. Letters  were  so  folded  as  to  form  their  own  en- 
velope and  were  sealed  with  wax  or  a  wafer,  and  when 
forwarded  by  the  postmaster,  they  were  wrapped  up  in 
paper  in  bundles  according  to  destination,  and  so  labelled. 
Ira's  method  of  registering  a  letter,  which  was  a  rare 
occurrence,  was  simply  to  mark  on  It  "Registered,"  and 
the  act  was  performed.     The  mall  was  transported  by 


1 8  Reminiscences   of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

stage  coach.  At  each  post  office  It  was  sorted  and 
changed,  that  is,  the  mail  sack  was  emptied  and  all  mail 
for  that  particular  office  was  taken  out  and  replaced  by 
that  which  was  to  be  forwarded. 

The  stage  coach  from  down  river  points  usually  came 
up  in  the  early  evening  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  days, 
and  on  summer  evenings,  occasionally  one  of  our  diver- 
sions would  be  to  hang  on  the  "boot"  behind  and  ride 
up,  sometimes  as  far  as  Elm  Hill,  which  was  a  tremend- 
ous distance.  The  distance  from  the  bridge  over  Ran- 
som's Creek  to  the  one  over  Brown's  Creek  was  con- 
sidered exactly  one  mile. 

Ira  Davenport  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
influential  men  of  the  town;  strictly  honest  and  open 
hearted;  he  enjoyed  a  good  joke  and  was  not  averse  to 
making  a  little  fun.  He  took  a  very  active  interest  in  all 
public  affairs  and  for  many  years  held  several  positions 
of  public  trust — and  no  profit.  He  was  careful,  conser- 
vative, and  conscientious  in  all  his  acts,  and  not  being 
crooked  himself,  he  would  not  permit  crookedness  in 
others  if  he  could  prevent  it.  He  was  a  safe  man  In 
office  for  the  people,  and  it  would  be  a  God-send,  if  to- 
day his  example  In  that  respect  would  be  followed  by 
many  others. 

Continuing  our  travels,  the  next  house  in  order  of 
procession  was  the  residence  of  John  Davenport,  the 
father  of  Ira  and  Elijah.  It  was  a  two-story  frame 
building  with  a  wide  porch  in  the  rear,  and  in  the  yard 
on  the  west  side  was  a  water  trough  supplied  with  run- 
ning water  from  a  spring  which  also  supplied  another 
public  trough  at  the  roadside,  and  in  the  rear  on  one  side 
was  a  small  building  equipped  with  a  weaving  loom,  and 
on  the  other  side  and  near  the  porch  was  the  wash- 
house.     On  the  east  side  was  the  barn,  and  beyond  that, 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  19 

and  nearby  the  house  of  John  B.  Smith  was  the  old  cider 
press  which  was  made  use  of  every  fall  by  many  of  the 
residents. 

The  old  Davenport  homestead  was  subsequently  re- 
placed by  a  more  modern  one  and  occupied  by  Elijah 
Davenport  during  his  lifetime.  It  is  now  occupied  by 
the  family  of  Joseph  Worthington,  his  son-in-law.  The 
next  house  is  the  Smith  house,  before  mentioned,  and  a 
little  beyond,  about  where  Blair  Street  is  located,  stood 
an  old  frame  house  broadside  to  the  road,  with  a  stoop 
or  porch  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and 
which  I  believe  was  the  former  homestead  of  Daniel 
Davenport.  My  most  distinct  recollection  of  this  build- 
ing was  when  it  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Renshaw,  the 
father  of  Theodore. 

Almost  directly  in  front  of  this  building  on  the  lower 
side  of  the  road  was  an  open  and  shallow  well,  and  close 
by,  but  further  up,  was  a  large  barn,  and  on  the  site  of 
this,  or  perhaps  a  little  above,  was  later  built  the  hotel 
which  for  a  number  of  years  was  kept  by  John  Jessop 
and  his  wife.  The  Jessops  moved  here  from  down  the 
river,  from  about  opposite  Retreat,  where  for  a  long 
time  they  had  kept  a  hotel,  and  which,  like  that  of  "Aunt" 
Lizzie  Tuttle's  at  West  Nanticoke,  were  noted  hostelries 
for  travellers  passing  up  and  down  the  river.  On  the 
same  side,  and  a  little  further  up,  there  used  to  stand  a 
small  one-story  building  used  as  a  shoemaker's  shop  and 
conducted  by  Charles  Waters.  Near  this  site  was  later 
built  the  wagonmaker's  shop  of  J.  B.  Blakeslee,  and  just 
above  was  a  blacksmith's  shop. 

Nearly  all  this  space,  where  frogs  and  burdocks  used 
to  thrive,  down  to  Ira  Davenport's  store,  is  now  about 
solidly  built  up  with  frame  buildings,  in  which  beer 
saloons  are  much  in  evidence,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to 
locate  the  place  of  old. landmarks. 


20  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

On  the  upper  corner  of  Davenport  and  Main  Streets 
there  was  formerly  a  frame  store  building  with  a  wide 
doorway  built  on  the  corner  of  the  building,  and  was 
occupied  by  Samuel  Davenport,  the  father  of  Abijah, 
and  was  established  in  1834.  This  building  burned  down 
when  I  was  quite  a  small  boy,  and  another  similar  one 
was  erected  on  the  opposite  corner,  which  was  kept,  first, 
by  Samuel  Davenport  and  John  B.  Smith,  then  by  John 
B.  Smith,  and  later,  by  Abijah  Davenport. 

Coming  on  further  up  was  the  stately  looking  man- 
sion of  Chauncey  Reynolds,  with  a  row  of  big  trees  in 
front,  which  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  emitted  a 
peculiar  and  rather  sickly  odor.  This  house  was  located 
just  below  the  wooden  bridge  which  crossed,  what  Colo- 
nel Wright  in  his  history  calls  the  Whittlesey  Creek,  but 
is  now  known  as  the  Wadham's  Creek.  Diagonally  op- 
posite, and  above  the  bridge  was  the  blacksmith  shop  of 
Albert  Gabriel,  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  Plymouth. 
He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Gabriel  who,  as  a  boy  in  Sep- 
tember, 1 81 8,  in  company  of  my  father,  then  fifteen 
years  of  age,  came  here  from  Milford,  Connecticut,  with 
the  family  of  John  Flanigan.  The  party  travelled  with 
a  two-horse  covered  wagon,  the  men  walking,  and  were 
eleven  days  on  the  road. 

A  little  farther  down,  on  the  corner  of  a  road  leading 
to  the  river,  was  the  house  of  Charles  E.  Young.  This 
house  is  yet  standing,  but  changed  in  appearance;  his 
son,  L.  A.  Young,  is  one  of  the  prominent  merchants  of 
Plymouth. 

Further  up  the  street,  and  about  opposite  where  John 
B.  Smith's  Opera  House  now  stands,  was  the  frame  store 
building  of  Chauncey  Reynold's,  which  I  don't  think 
was  conducted  as  a  store  very  long.  Mr.  Reynolds  was 
a  very  eccentric  man,  and  as  a  storekeeper  was  in  a  class 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  21 

all  by  himself.  He  was  not  very  particular  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  his  dry-goods  were  placed  on  his 
shelves,  one  end  sometimes  being  on  the  counter  and 
the  other  on  the  shelf.  It  was  said  of  him  that  a  cus- 
tomer who  had  purchased  a  pair  of  boots  and  wanted 
some  molasses,  but  had  nothing  to  carry  it  in,  he  solved 
the  difficulty  by  putting  the  molasses  in  the  boots.  This 
may  be  an  exaggeration.  He  had  one  son,  Lazarus,  who 
died  in  his  young  manhood. 

Further  up,  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  road  was 
the  Turner  "tan  house,"  with  the  tannery  and  vats  in  the 
rear.  I  have  seen  hides  from  these  vats  hanging  to  dry 
on  the  fences  along  the  main  road  and  extending  down 
to  the  river.  A  little  further  up  we  come  to  the  old 
Atherton  barn,  and  next,  the  frame  dwelling  house  of 
"Aunt"  Fanny  Turner,  which  is  still  standing.  She  was 
a  good  and  clever  old  maiden  lady  who  was  known  to 
most  all,  and  who  had  lived  there  from  my  earliest  recol- 
lection. Directly  opposite  this  was  the  store  of  John 
Turner,  first  established  in  1828,  afterwards  conducted 
by  his  sons,  Franklin  and  James,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Turner  Brothers.  This  store  was  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  prominent  stores  of  the  town,  and  was  con- 
ducted by  the  Turners  for  many  years.  The  building  is 
yet  standing.  Just  above  the  store  is  the  Turner  home- 
stead building,  and  below  it,  west,  on  the  corner  of  the 
road  leading  to  Turner's  Ferry,  is  the  one-story  building 
with  basement  which  was  occupied  when  I  was  a  boy  by  a 
family,  I  think,  named  Henry.  John  Madden  also  lived 
there  at  one  time,  and  he  kept  a  tailor's  shop  in  a  little 
building  just  below  this,  in  which,  at  a  later  date,  lived 
Thomas  Wright.  This  tailor  shop  was  afterwards  for  a 
number  of  years  used  as  a  millinery  store. 


22  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

On  the  same  side  of  the  road  and  a  few  yards  be- 
low was  another  old  landmark  known  as  the  old  Ather- 
ton  house.  It  was  a  large  two-story  building,  but  has 
now  disappeared.  Now,  again  continuing  up  the  road, 
next  comes  the  historic  old  Academy  on  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Academy  Streets;  this  I  will  leave  to  describe 
in  another  chapter.  Just  above  the  Academy  is  yet 
standing  the  brick  store  building  of  the  late  Elijah  C. 
Wadhams.  This  store  as  has  been  previously  noted  was 
one  of  the  earliest  brick  buildings  to  be  erected  in  the 
town.  It  was  built  some  time  not  long  prior  to  the  year 
1850,  and  was  first  occupied  by  Mr.  Wadhams  and  Ful- 
ler Reynolds  under  the  firm  name  of  Wadhams  and 
Reynolds,  and  Sterling  Bedford  was  their  clerk.  This 
firm  was  dissolved  after  a  few  years  and  the  business 
was  continued  by  Mr.  Wadhams,  who  was  also  engaged 
in  the  business  of  mining  coal,  until  some  time  about  the 
year  1880,  when  it  was  occupied  by  Messrs  Ashley,  Hunt 
&  Co.,  until  within  the  last  two  years.  The  second  story 
of  this  building  was  for  many  years  occupied  as  a  lodge 
room  by  Shawnee  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  by  Ply- 
mouth Masonic  Lodge. 

Directly  opposite  this  store  was  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  the  first  church  building — except  the  Acad- 
emy— I  believe,  to  have  been  erected  in  Plymouth.  This 
church  was  later  torn  down  to  give  room  for  the  present 
handsome  structure.  The  original  building  was  taken  to 
Forty-Fort  by  John  B.  Smith,  and  there  set  up  by  him  in 
its  original  form,  and  dedicated  as  an  independent 
church,  and  later  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  It  is  a  some- 
what singular  coincidence  that  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Plymouth  should  be  removed  to  Forty-Fort,  and  the  old 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Kingston,  not  far  distant  there- 
from,  and  which  was   an  old  landmark  of  that  town, 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  23 

should  be  removed  to  Plymouth  and  set  up  on  Franklin 
Street  by  the  Primitive  Methodist  congregation,  and  that 
both  these  buildings  should  burn  down.  This  old  Kings- 
ton church  I  remember  when  as  a  boy,  some  time  about 
the  years  1844-5  ^^  1846,  I  attended  Sunday  School 
there,  my  parents  having  moved  to  Kingston  for  a  short 
time  about  that  period  in  order  to  receive  the  advan- 
tages of  the  Wyoming  Seminary.  That  church,  as  I  re- 
member it,  had  very  high  back  box  pews  with  doors,  a 
gallery  on  both  sides  and  rear,  and  the  customary  two- 
story  pulpit. 

The  present  Methodist  Church  was  erected  in  1876. 
Just  below  this  church,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  parsonage,  stood  for  a  number  of 
years  a  two-story  frame,  private  schoolhouse,  which  was 
removed  sometime  about  1890  by  the  Episcopal  congre- 
gation, to  their  lot  on  Academy  Street  for  use  as  a 
chapel. 

Just  above  the  Wadhams'  store,  still  stands  his  former 
homestead,  which  was  erected  by  a  man  named  Bennett 
some  time  about  the  year  1852.  After  it  had  been  va- 
cated by  Mr.  Wadhams,  it  was  transformed  into  a  hotel 
and  conducted  respectively  by  A.  M.  Jeffords  and  John 
A.  Gruver.     It  is  now  used  as  a  dwelling. 


Chapter  IV. 

Old  M.  E.  Parsonage — Donation  parties — H.  Gaylord's  Home- 
stead— Old  Store — James  Macfarlane — First  National  Bank 
— Conrad  Shafer — Draper  Smith's  Store — F.  E.  Spry — Par- 
dee and  Winters — C.  L.  Farnum — Jos.  Preston — C.  A. 
Kuschke — Gaylord's  Store — Capt.  Asher  Gaylord — Gaylord's 
Railroad  and  Wharf — Dietrick's  Hotel — Samuel  Turner — 
James  McAlarney — Eli  Bittenbender — Querin  Krothe — 
Noah  Wadham's  Homestead — Andrew  Shupp — Geo.  P. 
Richard's — "Squire"  Brown — Nesbitt  Homstead — Old  Scenes 
— Elm  Hill  and  Tree — John  J.  Shonk — Olewine — Culver — 
"Sammy"  Gould. 

/^  N  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from  the  Wad- 
^^  ham's  store  building,  and  near  where  the  late 
Parrlsh  Coal  Company  tresseling  crosses  the  road  to  the 
breaker,  for  many  years  stood  a  small  two-stor)'  frame 
building  which  was  used  as  the  Methodist  parsonage, 
and  where  annually,  as  was  the  custom  with  country 
churches  in  early  days,  was  held  the  old-fashioned  dona- 
tion parties.  These  events  were  always  looked  forward 
to  as  a  kind  of  red  letter  day  in  the  calendar.  The 
friends,  young  and  old,  from  far  and  near,  would  gather 
there  on  these  occasions;  the  elders  during  the  daytime 
and  the  young  people  in  the  evening  for  a  good  time; 
each  one  bringing  their  contribution  of  money,  or  some 
article  of  family  consumption,  such  as  sugar,  tea,  coffee, 
flour,  bread,  cakes,  etc. ;  usually  more  provisions  than 
money,  and  as  a  feast  was  always  expected  on  these  occa- 
sions, naturally  much  of  the  donated  provisions  vanished 
with  the  guests.  In  this  connection,  I  recall  a  story  I 
once  read  which  illustrates  the  utilitarian  virtues  of  these 
beneficial  jamborees;  it  is  about  a  donation  party  which 
was  tendered  to  a  young  country  minister  and  his  bride. 
Most  all  of  the  donors  on  that  occasion  brought  as  their 
contribution  a  pan  full  of  biscuits,  and  after  the  young 
wife  had  shed  copious  tears  over  the  situation,  she  per- 


Reminiscences    of   Plyviouth,    Pa.  25 

suaded  her  husband  that  the  only  appropriate  use  they 
could  make  of  the  hard  crusted  offerings  would  be  to 
ornament  the  tops  of  the  pickets  surrounding  their  house 
with  them.  Near  by  this  house  and  by  the  roadside,  stood 
a  large  barn,  and  on  the  opposite  side  a  little  farther  up 
still  stands  the  mansion  house  of  Henderson  Gaylord, 
one  of  the  early  and  most  respected  residents  of  the 
town.  This  is  now  occupied  as  a  residence  by  Alexander 
Ferguson  and  Dr.  G.  R.  Drake. 

Nearly  opposite  this  building,  or  about  on  the  site  of 
where  now  stands  the  residence  of  the  late  Mrs.  Levi, 
there  was  formerly  a  small  one-story  building  where  I 
remember  when  a  small  boy  of  having  gotten  cream 
nuts  from  Draper  Smith,  who  kept  a  small  store  in  it. 
This  was  probably  the  store  mentioned  by  Colonel 
Wright  in  his  history  of  Plymouth,  as  the  store  where 
Joseph  Wright,  Benjamin  Reynolds  and  Joel  Rogers  did 
business,  and  which  was  opened  in  1812,  On  the  corner 
just  below  this  spot  is  the  building  now  owned  by  the 
Stegmaier  Brewing  Company,  where  at  one  time  lived 
James  Macfarlane,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Jeanette  Lindsay 
and  Thomas  P.  Macfarlane.  He  sunk  the  shaft  which 
is  just  below  the  Chauncey  Colliery  at  Avondale.  In  the 
upper  end  of  this  building  was  organized  and  instituted 
in  1864  the  First  National  Bank  of  Plymouth,  with 
Henderson  Gaylord  as  President  and  William  L.  Wilson 
as  Cashier.  On  the  site  of  this  building  there  formerly 
stood  a  small  two-story  frame  dwelling  house  where,  in 
the  early  50's  lived  Conrad  Shafer.  He  was  a  butcher, 
and  his  slaughterhouse  was  a  small  barn  which  stood  on 
the  river  bank  about  where  the  Atlantic  Refining  Com- 
pany's oil  house  is  now  located.  He  used  to  drive  a  mar- 
ket wagon  through  town  during  the  summer  season,  be- 
hind a  dashing  pair  of  fast  horses  with  sleigh  bells,  and 
was,  I  believe,  the  pioneer  butcher  of  Plymouth. 


26  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa. 

Further  up  the  street,  in  the  building  next  above  Dr. 
Ashley's  residence  was  the  store  kept  for  many  years, 
first  by  Draper  Smith,  and  later  by  Draper  Smith  and 
Peter  Shupp,  under  the  firm  name  of  Smith  and  Shupp. 
This  building  has  been  moved  back  and  a  new  front 
built  on,  and  at  present  is  occupied  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Davis, 
the  undertaker.  Next  above  that  was  the  large  frame 
building  of  F.  E.  Spry,  the  plumber  and  hardware  dealer, 
occupied  at  one  time  by  Pardee  and  Winters  in  the  stove 
and  hardware  business,  and  also  as  a  photograph  gallery 
by  a  man  named  Richards,  who  also  kept  an  ice  cream 
parlor  and  eating  house.  This  location  is  now  occupied 
by  the  Shawnee  Supply  Company,  owned  by  Ambrose 
West. 

The  house  next  above  this  is  another  one  of  the  old 
landmarks.  A  two-story  frame  dwelling  which,  in  my 
earliest  recollection,  I  think,  was  occupied  by  C.  L.  Far- 
num,  the  son-in-law  of  Henderson  Gaylord,  and  later  by 
Joseph  Preston,  the  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Dr.  H.  L. 
Whitney.  Eli  Bittenbender  also  lived  there  at  one  time, 
and  its  latest  occupant  and  owner  was  C.  A.  Kuschke, 
who  for  years  and  until  the  time  of  his  death  a  few  years 
since,  kept  a  tailoring  establishment  there,  after  which 
his  son,  Henry,  established  a  watchmaker's  shop  in  it. 
Almost  directly  opposite  this  building,  where  is  now  the 
D.  K.  Spry  block,  stood  a  frame  dwelling  house  and  the 
store  of  Henderson  Gaylord,  erected  in  1827,  and  where 
he  continued  in  business  until  1856,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son.  Captain  Asher,  a  brave  officer  of  the 
143rd  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  who  was 
killed  while  leading  his  company  in  battle  at  Hatcher's 
Run,  Virginia,  and  whose  body  was  never  recovered. 

In  the  late  50's  the  second  story  of  this  store  build- 
ing was  used  for  a  private  school,  which  was  taught  by 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  27 

E.  W.  Matthews,  a  popular  teacher,  who  afterwards 
became  an  officer  in  the  Union  Army.  I  remember  a 
vocal  concert  being  given  in  that  room  during  that  period 
by  the  celebrated  Hutchinson  family  of  singers. 

Near  the  side  of  this  store  ran  a  railroad  for  the 
transportation  of  coal  from  the  Gaylord  mine  to  the 
river.  It  ran  along  what  is  now  Walnut  Street,  and 
down  the  present  Gaylord  Avenue,  where  the  road  bed 
in  front  of  the  Armory  and  where  the  present  Campbell 
buildings  are  now  located,  was  some  six  to  eight  feet 
higher  than  the  natural  surface  of  the  ground.  The  land 
in  that  locality  being  swampy,  and  affording  very  good 
skating  in  the  winter. 

The  cars  on  this  railroad  were  propelled  by  gravity 
and  emptied  into  chutes  at  "Gaylord's  Wharf,"  where 
the  coal  was  loaded  into  canal  boats.  This  wharf  was 
located  at  a  point  about  where  the  new  bridge  starts  to 
cross  the  river. 

Just  across  this  railroad,  on  the  corner  opposite  the 
Kuschke  building,  and  what  is  now  Hanover  Street, 
stood  the  old  Dietrick  tavern  with  its  long,  covered  front 
porch,  at  the  extreme  upper  end  of  which  was  a  wooden 
pump.  This  was  the  only  hotel  in  town  for  many  years, 
and  was  kept  by  George  H.  Dietrick  and  later  by  John 
Deen.  One  of  Mr.  Dietrick's  daughters  became  the 
wife  of  Hon.  Samuel  G.  Turner,  State  Senator,  and 
prominent  coal  operator. 

Next  adjoining  the  hotel  above,  and  about  on  the 
site  now  occupied  by  the  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany's office,  was  a  small  frame  building  which  was  occu- 
pied by  William  Renshaw  as  a  tailor  shop.  This  spot 
later  became  the  site  of  a  large  frame  dwelling  house 
and  tailoring  establishment  of  James   McAlarney,  who 


28  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

subsequently  established  a  liquor  store  in  it.  This  build- 
ing, together  with  the  hotel,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1875  or  1876. 

Mr.  McAlarney  was  one  of  the  prominent  and 
progressive  citizens  of  Plymouth.  He  erected  the  large 
McAlarney's  Hall  building  in  which  for  a  number  of 
years  he  conducted  a  general  store.  One  of  his  daugh- 
ters became  the  wife  of  Edwin  Davenport. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from  this  hotel  was 
a  small  frame  building  occupied  by  Eli  Bittenbender, 
who  had  formerly  lived  and  kept  a  shoemaker's  shop  in 
the  Kuschke  building,  and  next  above,  on  the  site  of 
Davenport's  book  store,  was  a  one-story  building,  where 
Querin  Krothe,  a  good  natured  old  German,  established 
the  first  barber  shop  in  town.  This  building  was  after- 
wards converted  into  a  drug  store,  conducted  by  Dr.  C. 
H.  Wilson.  Just  above  this,  in  the  building  now  occupied 
as  a  saloon  by  Andrew  Fleming,  was  the  cabinetmaker's 
shop  of  N.  A.  Stecker,  which  later  was  occupied  by  John 
Dennis,  who  kept  a  saloon  there  for  a  short  time.  Mr. 
Stecker  was  also  the  express  agent  of  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R., 
and  just  prior  to  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  he  did  quite  a  thriving  business  selling  daily 
newspapers,  which  would  arrive  on  the  evening  train 
from  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  depot  at  that 
time  was  in  a  ramshackle  old  building  located  about  in 
the  rear  of  Dr.  Ashley's  present  residence.  The  only 
subscribers  for  daily  newspapers  in  the  town  prior  to 
this  time,  were  Samuel  Wadhams  and  Henderson  Gay- 
lord,  and  people  would  often  wonder  how  they  ever  could 
find  time  to  read  them,  and  now,  nearly  everybody  takes 
one,  and  many  two,  besides  a  magazine  or  two. 

Diagonally  across  the  street  from  the  Stecker  build- 
ing and  about  in  the  rear  of  the  present  Jacobs  building, 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  29 

there  stood  a  long  black  house,  in  front  of  which  was  a 
large  willow  tree,  and  where  formerly  lived  Noah  Wad- 
hams,  son  of  the  Rev.  Noah,  and  which  later,  I  believe, 
was  occupied  by  James  Owens,  his  son-in-law.  There 
was  a  Dr.  George  Wadhams,  a  son  of  Noah,  who  was 
buried  in  the  Reynolds  burying  ground  in  1848. 

Crossing  the  street  again,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by 
the  Ely  House  block,  was  a  low  frame  building  with  a 
long  porch  and  in  front  of  which  was  a  pump.  This  was 
occupied  by  Andrew  Shupp,  who  kept  a  saloon  there,  and 
was  later  remodeled  and  occupied  by  George  P.  Richards 
as  a  dwelling  and  liquor  store.  Up  to  about  1855,  ^  ^^ 
not  recollect  of  any  other  buildings  on  either  side  within 
the  space  from  Centre  Avenue  up  to  Elm  Hill,  except  a 
small  frame  building  on  the  upper  side  of  the  creek, 
where  lived  "Squire"  George  Brown  who  kept  a  shoe- 
maker's shop,  and  the  first  ice  cream  and  oyster  estab- 
lishment I  remember  in  the  town.  This  building  was 
located  about  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  Wool- 
worth  stores,  and  near  this  spot  was  formerly  the  house 
in  which  Colonel  Ransom  was  captured  by  the  Indians. 
The  next  was  the  Miner  Nesbitt  house  in  the  rear  of 
where  George  Durbin's  drug  store  now  is.  This  was 
where  Robert  Love  lived  and  died.  There  was  a  large 
barn  near  this  house,  my  earliest  recollection  of  which 
was  when  I  watched  Theodore  Hendershot  hetcheling 
flax  there. 

About  all  the  rest  of  this  territory  was  occupied  as 
farming  lands.  On  the  lower  side  of  the  road  where  the 
Rooney,  and  Moore  Brothers  building  now  stands,  there 
was  a  large  apple  orchard.  About  1862,  the  buildings 
between  Centre  Avenue  and  the  Bull  Run  Crossing  be- 
gan to  be  erected.  From  about  where  the  Plymouth  Na- 
tional Bank  stands  and  up  to  the  Squire  Brown  house, 


30  Reminiscences   of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

there  was  a  board  sidewalk  on  the  upper  side  of  the  road, 
which  stood  five  or  six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  road. 
Just  above  Joseph  Switzer's  (now  Frederick's)  furniture 
store,  was  later,  the  book  store  of  A.  F.  Levi,  and  the 
Post  Office  kept  by  his  mother;  and  there  was  also  a 
clothing  store  kept  by  Priester  &  Schloss  close  by. 

What  is  now  known  as  Elm  Hill,  when  I  was  a  boy 
was  called  "Pismire  Hill."  Mr.  John  Shonk  afterwards 
rechristened  it  by  the  more  euphonious  and  aristocratic 
name  of  "Ant  Hill,"  corrupted  into  "Anty."  It  subse- 
quently became  known  as  "Elm  Hill,"  from  the  old  elm 
tree  which,  until  a  few  years  ago  occupied  a  conspicuous 
place  on  its  brow. 

There  has  been  I  think,  a  good  deal  of  uncertain 
myth,  and  sentimental  gush,  connected  with  this  tree.  It 
shadowed  an  old  black  house  standing  a  little  way  back 
from  the  road,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Elm  Hill 
Congregational  Church  parsonage,  and  which  I  believe 
was  known  as  the  "Moss"  or  Morse  house.  This  house 
was  occupied  by  William  Jenkins,  familiarly  known  as 
"Major  Cobus" ;  and  for  many  years  after  that  by  his  son 
also  named  William  and  who  was  a  boat  builder.  About 
the  year  1901,  at  which  time  he  was  upwards  of  80  years 
of  age,  this  man  told  the  writer  that  he  remembered  that 
tree  when  it  was  a  small  sapling,  so,  if  his  story  is  cor- 
rect, it  is  quite  unlikely  that  it  could  have  been  a  whip- 
ping post,  if  there  was  such  a  thing,  a  hundred  or  more 
years  before. 

Below  this  house,  on  the  site  of  the  present  blacksmith 
shop  of  Fuller  Hendershot,  stood  for  many  years,  a  one- 
story  frame  school  house  and  about  opposite  this,  I  re- 
member having  seen  long  pine  timbers  elevated  on  tres- 
tles, where  William  Jenkins  sawed  out  boat  sides.  Just 
above    the   Jenkins   homestead,   between    where   Arthur 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  31 

Young  recently  lived,  and  the  dwelling  house  and  store 
of  the  late  J.  W.  Weston,  was  a  long  row  of  low  black 
buildings,  three  or  four  perhaps — and  joined  together, 
the  farthest  one  up,  occupied  a  short  time  as  a  store  of 
some  kind  by  the  late  J.  \V.  Eno.  Possibly  it  was  the 
one  at  the  lower  end  of  this  row  which  was  called  the 
Moss  or  Morse  house  above  mentioned.  Near  the  site 
of  the  present  Groblewski  drug  store,  formerly  the  resi- 
dence and  butcher  shop  of  Marx  Weil,  but  farther  back 
from  the  road,  was  another  old  house  with  a  long  porch 
in  front  where  lived  Achen  Atwell  an  old  time  canal  boat- 
man. All  the  rest  of  the  surrounding  territory  here  was 
used  as  farming  lands. 

On  the  hill  farther  up  the  road,  on  the  site  of  the 
stately  residence  of  the  late  John  J,  Shonk  and  now  oc- 
cupied by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  C.  W.  McAlarney,  was  a 
frame  dwelling  house  occupied  I  believe  by  Miner 
Ransom. 

Mr.  Shonk  was  one  of  the  early  and  most  prominent 
residents  of  the  town,  and  his  son  Albert  is  now  one  of 
its  leading  and  influential  citizens. 

On  the  next  lot  above  the  Shonk  homestead  is  yet 
standing,  a  two-story  frame  dwelling  where  lived  a  man 
named  Olewine  who  moved  out  West  many  years  ago. 
This  house  was  afterwards  for  a  number  of  years,  the 
residence  of  Dr.  C.  H.  Wilson.  A  few  yards  beyond 
this  house  many  years  ago,  was  the  blacksmith  shop  of 
Hiram  Culver,  who  lived  in  the  house  near  by  and  which 
later  became  the  residence  for  many  years  of  the  late 
J.  W.  Eno. 

The  next  house  above  this,  and  one  of  the  old  land- 
marks, was  the  homestead  of  Jacob  Gould,  the  ancestor 
of  the  family  of  that  name.  It  stood  on  an  eminence 
about  opposite  the  No.  1 1  Breaker  of  the  L.  &  W.  Coal 


32  Reminiscences   of  Plymouth,    Pa. 

Co.,  and  on  the  lower  side  of  the  road,  and  near  where 
the  breaker  is,  was  a  large  barn  and  on  the  same  lot  I 
think,  was  an  apple  orchard. 

"Sammy"  Gould  used  to  live  in  this  house,  but  later 
removed  to  Beech  Grove  near  Berwick.  He  was  a  very 
jovial  and  rather  witty  personage,  and  when  on  his  re- 
turn home  from  visits  to  Plymouth,  used  to  cause  much 
vexation  to  the  conductors  on  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R.  by  pull- 
ing the  bell  rope  and  causing  the  train  to  stop  opposite 
his  residence,  which  was  some  distance  away  from  the 
station. 


Chapter  V. 

Coal  Street — Oliver  Davenport — Edwin  Davenport — Christopher 
Garrahan  —  Patrick  Cullen  —  Phoebe  Pringle  —  Carpenter 
Rinus — French's  Grist  Mill — John  Smith — "Aunt"  Charry 
Clark — The  French  Tunnel — Francis  J.  Smith — ^Calathum- 
pian  Serenades — The  Horse  Fiddle — The  "Big  Coal  Bed" — 
William  Dennis — Richard  Egbertson — Robt.  Davenport — 
Samuel  Vanloon — Benj.  and  Fuller  Reynolds — Calvin  and 
Samuel  Wadhams — Manny  Wharram — Benj.  Pringle — Sam'l 
Lewis — Sam'l  Harrison. 

Ty  ETURNING  now  to  the  lower  end  of  town,  and  go- 
ing  up  Coal  Street,  the  first  house  on  the  right  hand 
side  of  the  road,  was  that  of  Oliver  Davenport.  This 
house  is  yet  standing  and  was  occupied  by  him  until  the 
time  of  his  death  a  good  many  years  ago. 

Mr.  Davenport  was  one  of  the  town's  prosperous  and 
respected  farmers.  One  of  his  sons,  Edwin,  late  presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank,  who  died  in  19 13,  was 
the  father  of  former  Congressman  Hon.  Stanley  W.  and 
of  Andrew  Livingston,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Ply- 
mouth and  Luzerne;  another  son.  Dr.  Fuller,  was  a 
member  of  the   U.   P.   crew  which   contested  with  the 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  33 

famous  Henley  crew  in  a  regatta  on  the  river  Thames  a 
few  years  ago.  Between  this  house  and  the  main  road 
there  was  formerly  an  apple  orchard  in  which  was  a 
tree  of  luscious  "Sugar  Sweets"  which  in  early  summer 
was  the  strong  point  of  attraction  for  the  boys  of  the 
neighborhood. 

Just  above  the  house,  on  Coal  Street,  stood  the  barn, 
and  a  little  beyond,  is  a  white  house  where  formerly 
lived  Christopher  Garrahan  a  well  known  and  respected 
citizen.  This  house  later  became  the  property  and  resi- 
dence of  his  son-in-law,  Dennison  Pringle.  Across  the 
creek  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  road  further  up,  and 
extending  down  near  the  grove,  was  a  long  double  dwell- 
ing house  which  at  an  earlier  day  was  occupied  by  Chris- 
topher Garrahan  on  the  one  side,  and  Patrick  Cullen  on 
the  other.  In  the  latter  house  there  would  occasionally 
be  held  on  Sundays,  services  of  the  Catholic  religion. 
This  house  was  afterwards  occupied  by  Carpenter  Rinus. 
At  the  lower  end  of  this  row  and  just  in  the  grove,  was 
the  residence  of  Mrs.  Phoebe  Pringle.  She  was  a  tailoress 
and  used  to  make  all  of  our  juvenile  clothes,  and  I  recall 
her  process  of  fitting  the  garments;  the  rude  adjustment 
of  position  of  the  patient  model,  pertinent  to  her  pinning 
and  basting  operations  was  truly  a  trying  ordeal.  One 
of  her  daughters  married  Freeman  Polk,  a  long  time  re- 
spected citizen  of  Plymouth. 

A  little  further  up  the  road  beyond  this  row  of  houses 
was  a  small  dwelling,  the  residence  of  Freeman  Samis, 
and  across  the  creek  still  further  up  stood  the  big  red 
grist  mill  of  my  father. 

This  mill  was  first  built  to  be  run  by  water  power 
supplied  from  a  dam,  or  reservoir  just  above,  but  was 
afterwards  converted  into  a  steam  mill.  The  sulphur 
water  from  the  mines  above  soon  played  havoc  with  the 


34  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

machinery  and  it  was  finally  abandoned.  This  mill  build- 
ing was,  until  quite  recent  years  used  as  tenement  dwell- 
ings but  now  stands  in  ruins. 

"The  mill  wheel  has  fallen  to  pieces,  Ben  Bolt, 
The  rafters  have  tumbled  in. 
And  a  quiet  that  crawls  'round  the  wall  as  you  pass, 
Takes  the  place  of  the  olden  din." 

On  an  elevation  just  above  the  mill  and  beside  the 
old  dam,  was  the  residence  of  George  Seiple  the  miller, 
who  was  succeeded  by  a  Mr.  Fisher,  and  a  few  yards  to 
the  southeast  yet  stands  the  homestead  of  my  other  step- 
grandfather,  John  Smith,  the  brother  of  Abijah  and  who 
were  the  pioneer  coal  operators  of  the  Wyoming  Valley. 
In  front,  and  around  this  house  in  its  spacious  yard,  were 
numerous  black  cherry  and  other  fruit  trees,  and  on  the 
north  side  was  a  thrifty  apple  orchard  and  a  good  spring 
of  water.  Later  this  house  was  occupied  by  Charity 
("Aunt  Charry")  Clark,  as  clever  an  old  soul  as  ever 
lived.  She  had  three  sons,  George,  William,  and  Burr, 
and  they  afterwards  removed  to  Ohio.  More  recently 
this  house  was  owned  and  occupied  by  David  Levi,  a  re- 
spected citizen  of  Plymouth  and  at  one  time  prominent 
coal  operator. 

John  Smith  was  a  man  of  positive  and  decisive  char- 
acter. It  was  said  of  him  that  at  one  time  he  was  elected 
or  appointed  to  the  office  of  tax  collector  contrary  to  his 
wishes,  and  that  in  retaliation  for  the  honor  conferred,  he 
served  notice  on  the  people  that  on  a  certain  date  he 
would  call  for  the  taxes  and  would  brook  no  delay  in 
the  payment.  Probably  neither  before  nor  since,  was  a 
tax  duplicate  settled  up  more  speedily. 

Just  across  the  creek  from  the  old  mill,  there  is  the 
evidence  of  a  tunnel  under  the  hill  which  my  father  had 
driven  for  some  distance  and  I  well  remember  my  labori- 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  35 

ous  efforts  in  lugging  the  drills  of  "Hank"  and  Munn 
Massaker  from  there  up  to  Gabriel's  shop  to  be  sharp- 
ened, and  then  back  again.  Close  to  the  entrance  to  this 
tunnel,  in  a  little  frame  house  lived  the  family  of  Free- 
man Lamoreaux.  The  driving  of  this  tunnel  was  aban- 
doned and  the  one  some  distance  further  up  was  opened, 
near  where  the  L.  &  W.  B.  Coal  Company's  engine  house 
now  stands.  In  this  tunnel  Edward  Crowell  was  killed 
by  a  fall  of  rock. 

On  the  hill  to  the  left,  just  above  this  first  tunnel,  and 
near  the  site  of  the  old  Washington  head  house  and 
plane,  and  the  entrance  to  the  classic  precincts  of  bed  bug 
row,  stands  what  remains  of  the  once  beautiful  home  of 
Francis  J.  Smith.  This  place  was  laid  out  in  beautiful 
terraces  and  was  a  very  attractive  spot.  He  moved  to 
Ohio  where  some  of  his  descendants  still  reside.  Mr. 
John  J.  Shonk  at  one  time  lived  in  this  house.  Just  op- 
posite, across  the  creek  and  at  the  head  of  the  old  dam 
was  another  quite  large  dwelling  house  but  I  don't  re- 
member who  lived  there. 

Further  up  the  creek  on  the  right  hand  side  were  sev- 
eral small  houses  where  lived  Zeph.  Barber  and  Mrs. 
Partington  and  Munn  Massaker.  On  the  left  side  of  the 
road,  and  just  above  the  engine  house  before  mentioned, 
was  a  small  house  occupied  by  a  man  I  think,  named 
Aaron  Young,  who  was  killed  in  a  fist  fight  while  parti- 
cipating in  a  Calathumpian  serenade  given  to  Ira  Daven- 
port in  celebration  of  his  marriage.  This  house  was  at 
one  time  occupied  by  Fred  Myers,  father  of  the  late 
Robert  Myers. 

In  reference  to  these  Calathumpian  serenades,  honors 
which  it  was  not  uncommon  to  tender  to  newly  married 
couples, — one  of  the  principal  musical  instruments  of  the 
band  was  the  "horse  fiddle,"  which  I  believe  is  now  a 


36  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

forgotten  instrument  of  melody.  Its  construction  con- 
sisted of  an  open  topped  dry  goods  box  with  a  well  ros- 
ined board  or  rail  for  a  bow,  and  when  vigorously 
wielded  across  the  top  of  the  box  would  send  forth  notes 
of  melody  both  horrible  and  terrible. 

Continuing  on,  a  little  further  up  to  the  extreme  end 
of  the  road  was  the  "Big  Coal  Bed"  which  was  opened 
by  the  Smith  brothers  about  the  year  1807.  Here  are 
several  enormous  openings  or  caverns  in  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  where  we  boys  used  to  go  to  get  soft  pieces  of 
stones  or  slate  to  make  slate  pencils.  Through  one  of  these 
large  openings  which  are  now  almost  completely  closed 
with  fallen  rocks  and  debris,  teams  would  enter,  the 
driver,  with  lamp  in  hand,  leading  the  horses  far  in  to 
the  breast,  or  place  where  the  miners  were  at  work, 
where  the  team  would  be  turned  and  the  wagon  loaded 
and  then  driven  to  the  river  bank,  the  coal  to  be  loaded 
into  canal  boats.  I  have  often  ridden  into  this  mine  in 
the  wagons  and  watched  the  operations,  my  father  being 
the  operator  of  the  mine. 

Coming  back  down  the  road,  about  half  way  to  the 
old  mill,  is  a  bridge  leading  to  a  road  which  runs  past 
the  school  house  on  "Temperance  Hill."  Turning 
abruptly  to  the  left,  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  road- 
way was  the  residence  of  Henry  Massaker,  and  then 
came  a  stone  house,  the  residence  of  William  Dennis,  an 
old  and  respected  resident,  who  gave  the  locality  the 
name  it  now  bears.  A  little  beyond,  was  another  stone 
building,  the  residence  of  Richard  Egbertson  where  he 
lived  for  many  years  and  where  afterwards  resided  his 
son  Henderson,  who  was  a  painter.  Richard  Egbertson 
was  a  stone  mason  and  plasterer  by  trade,  and  withal,  I 
used  to  think  a  very  wonderful  fisherman.  He  could  sta- 
tion himself  on  the  river  bank  where  no  one  else  would 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  37 

think  of  fishing,  cast  in  his  lines,  and  invariably  catch  a 
big  string  of  large  fish.  The  manner  of  plastering  a 
house  in  those  days,  before  plastering  laths  were  in- 
vented, was  to  tack  a  thin  board  on  the  ceiling  or  side  of 
the  room  to  be  plastered,  and  then  with  a  hatchet  and 
wooden  wedge,  make  interstices  in  the  board  to  receive 
and  hold  the  plaster.  Evidences  of  this  method  may  still 
be  found  in  the  old  buildings. 

Passing  on,  beyond  the  school  house  was  a  row  of 
red  houses,  story  and  a  half  high,  where  lived  George 
Puterbaugh  and  Wesley  Lewis.  Some  distance  further 
on,  on  the  corner  of  Davenport  Street  and  Shawnee  Ave- 
nue, stood  the  mansion  house,  with  its  spacious  grounds 
and  towering  elms  of  Robert  Davenport  one  of  the  earl- 
iest residents  of  Plymouth.  He  was  the  father  of  Samuel 
Davenport.  A  little  beyond  was  the  two-story  dwelling 
with  the  wide  porch  in  front,  of  Samuel  Vanloon,  a  pros- 
perous farmer  and  one  time  County  Sheriff.  He  had  a 
large  family  of  boys,  of  whom  not  one  I  believe  are  now 
living.  Beyond  this,  stood  his  barns  and  sheds,  and  then 
came  those  of  Benjamin  Reynolds  another  old  time  and 
prominent  resident.  Mr.  Reynolds'  residence  was  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  road,  where  afterwards  his  son  J. 
Fuller,  lived  for  many  years.  The  present  structure  re- 
places the  original  building,  which  burned  down  some 
time  during  the  early  50s,  and  within  recent  years  was  the 
residence  of  Oscar  Lance.  The  widow  of  Mr.  Fuller 
Reynolds,  a  very  amiable  woman,  died  quite  recently  at 
a  very  advanced  age,  in  Scranton,  where  some  of  their 
children  now  reside  and  occupy  positions  of  prominence. 

Still  further  on,  on  the  corner  of  Academy  Street  and 
Shawnee  Avenue,  stood  the  old  colonial  mansion  house, 
with  its  broad  piazza  and  spacious  hallways,  of  Calvin 
Wadhams,  a  pioneer  resident  of  Plymouth  and  which  for 


38  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

many  years  was  the  residence  of  his  son  Samuel,  the 
father  of  Elijah.  The  large  lot  laid  out  in  terraces,  and 
planted  with  ample  shade  and  ornamental  trees  and 
shrubs,  extended  down  to  the  creek.  On  the  side  and  near 
the  kitchen  was  the  wash  house,  and  next  to  the  road  was 
an  ice  house,  and  on  the  opposite  corner  stood  the  car- 
riage house.  On  the  upper  side  stood  a  number  of  barns, 
sheds  and  store  houses  for  grain,  etc.  Mr.  Wadhams 
was  a  prosperous  farmer,  and  both  he  and  his  son,  were 
for  many  years  prominent  and  influential  men  of  the 
town,  Elijah  being  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate. 

Some  twenty  or  more  years  ago,  the  Plymouth  Plan- 
ing Mill  Company  reshingled  this  house,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  old  shingles  had  been  nailed  on  with  hand 
forged  nails.  In  early  days,  houses  were  built  to  last, 
and  this  one,  although  it  has  been  changed  in  appearance 
and  altered  to  suit  the  requirements  of  tenants,  is  appar- 
ently in  as  good  condition  as  ever.  A  little  farther  to  the 
east  was  the  story  and  a  half  house,  which  for  many  years 
was  the  residence  of  Emanuel  Wharram,  Mr.  Wadhams' 
English  farmer.  He  had  a  large  family  and  moved  to 
Ohio  a  good  many  years  ago  and  where  some  of  his 
descendants  yet  reside. 

Up  on  the  hill  from  the  Wadhams  house  and  I  be- 
lieve somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  Shawnee 
Cemetery,  was  the  residence  of  Benjamin  Pringle  another 
old  Plymouth  resident.  He  had  two  daughters,  one 
named  Martha,  and  the  other,  Bertha  or  Berthia.  Not 
far  from  the  location  of  this  house  was  the  residence  of 
Samuel  Lewis,  an  old  resident,  and  where  later  lived 
Samuel  Harrison  whose  daughter  married  Clayton 
Young. 


IB  u 


THE  OLD  ACADEMY 


Chapter  VI. 

Early  Relip;ious  Services — The  Old  Academy — Lorenzo  Dow — 
Great  Religious  Revival — Revs.  Miles  and  Snowden — Pres- 
byterians— A  Personal  Episode  and  Erection  of  a  Church — 
First  Church  Edifice — Christian  Church — Early  Ministers  of 
— Early  Schools  and  Teachers — The  Bachelor's  Club — Their 
Rules  and  Proceedings — Benj.  Parke — Other  Teachers — 
Corporal  Punishment — The  Old  Lecture  Room  School  House 
— The  Spelling  School. 

THE  first  church  building  to  be  erected  in  Plymouth 
was  undoubtedly  the  old  Academy.  Prior  to  its 
erection,  Col.  Wright  in  his  history  of  Plymouth  says, 
that  religious  services  were  held  in  private  houses.  I 
have  already  mentioned  where  the  few  Catholics  in  the 
town  sometimes  held  their  services  in  the  house  of  Pat- 
rick Cullen,  and  I  hav^e  been  told  that  John  Madden 
taught  the  Catholic  children  their  catechism  in  his  house 
next  to  the  Turner  store. 

The  Old  Academy — now  transformed  into  dwell- 
ings— was  erected,  probably  by  common  contributions, 
some  time  In  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. The  entrance  was  by  high  stone  steps  facing 
Academy  street,  and  leading  to  a  wide  vestibule,  on 
either  side  of  which  were  stairs  leading  to  the  second 
story  which  was  fitted  up  with  high  backed  benches  for 
pews,  which  extended  on  each  side  from  the  centre  aisle 
to  the  wall.  In  the  centre  of  the  aisle  were  several 
wooden  columns  to  support  the  celling,  the  columns  ex- 
tending the  length  of  the  aisle,  at  the  eastern  end  of 
which  was  the  high  pulpit  with  a  ballustred  stairway  of 
some  eight  or  ten  steps  on  the  side  ascending  into  It.  In 
front  of,  and  a  few  feet  distant  from  the  pulpit,  on  a 
raised  platform  was  a  picket  fence  enclosing  perhaps  two 
thirds  the  space  in  front.  At  short  intervals  along  the 
walls  hung  the  sconces  or  candle  holders,  which  at  even- 


40  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

ing  services  the  members  of  the  congregation  were  ex- 
pected to  supply  with  tallow  candles.  I  remember  of 
having  attended  some  of  those  meetings  with  my  mother 
who  would  take  with  her,  her  quota  of  illuminating  ma- 
terial. The  collection  bags,  or  pockets  of  black  velvet, 
were  attached  to  the  ends  of  long  red  poles  whereby  the 
toll  gatherers  would  be  enabled  to  collect  pennies  from 
the  sinners  seated  on  the  farthest  ends  of  the  benches. 

The  first  story  of  the  building  was  divided  into  two 
sections,  and  fitted  up  with  long  desks  and  benches,  and 
a  blackboard  on  the  wall  for  school  purposes. 

Tradition  says,  that  before  this  building  was  entirely 
completed,  Lorenzo  Dow, — a  kind  of  Billy  Sunday — 
traveling  evangelist,  held  revival  services  there,  and  on 
account  of  the  large  audiences  he  drew,  some  fear  was 
felt  regarding  the  safety  of  the  building.  The  memory 
of  Mr.  Dow  is  still  perpetuated  in  the  names  of  some  of 
the  children  of  his  admirers.  It  is  probably  about  this 
period,  that  a  great  religious  fervor  overspread  the  val- 
ley. The  coming  of  the  millennium,  and  the  date  set  for 
the  destruction  of  the  world  was  predicted,  and  it  was 
said  that  some  prospective  saints  had  their  ascension 
robes  prepared  for  the  occasion. 

In  my  early  years  I  do  not  remember  of  any  regular 
church  services  being  held  there,  the  building  was  free  for 
the  use  of  any  denomination  who  wished  to  make  use  of 
it.  Rev.  Geo.  D.  Miles,  an  Episcopalian  minister  of 
Wilkes-Barre  used  to  preach  occasionally  on  Sunday  af- 
ternoons, and  on  other  occasions  ministers  of  other  de- 
nominations would  hold  services  on  Sunday  mornings, 
and  sometimes  evenings,  and  usually  there  were  Sunday 
Schools  quite  regularly  held;  but  until  some  time  after 
the  Presbyterian  Communicants  under  the  guidance  of 
Rev.  E.  H.  Snowden  were  organized  as  a  congregation 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  41 

in  1856,  and  after  the  M.  E.  Church  was  erected,  there 
were  I  believe,  no  regular  services  held  there. 

The  old  Academy  was  for  many  years,  the  only  place 
in  the  town  where  public  assemblies  of  any  kind  could  be 
properly  held,  it  was  in  fact  the  public  hall,  and  there, 
were  held  political  rallies,  meetings  for  discussion  of  mat- 
ters of  public  interest,  lectures  for  educational  purposes 
or  profit,  and  even  shows  were  wont  to  be  held  there. 
I  remember  of  an  Indian  show  being  held  there,  and  on 
one  occasion  an  Irish  comedian  called  "Dublin  Dan,"  was 
obliged  to  hold  two  performances  on  the  same  evening 
in  order  to  accommodate  his  audiences. 

In  this  connection,  while  it  may  appear  self-laudatory, 
perhaps  out  of  place,  and  withal  not  entirely  commend- 
able, yet,  it  being  a  matter  of  unwritten  history  I  feel 
constrained  to  relate  a  personal  incident  which  goes  to 
prove  the  truth  of  the  saying,  that  out  of  evil  sometimes 
good  will  grow. 

Some  time  about  the  year  1865,  there  was  some  kind 
of  a  gathering  of  the  congenial  young  people  of  the 
town, — perhaps  a  Fourth  of  July  picnic — at  which  Mose 
Wadhams, — the  brother  of  Elijah, — and  myself  were  the 
ringleaders.  It  was  decided  that  we  would  wind  up  the 
festivities  of  the  day  with  a  dance  in  the  evening.  There 
being  no  other  available  or  desirable  place  in  town  where 
we  could  go,  and  the  Academy  being  a  public  hall,  we 
fixed  upon  that  as  the  place,  and  accordingly  in  the  even- 
ing, there  we  assembled  with  Wm.  Hatcher  and  his 
fiddle.  The  space  between  the  pulpit  and  the  benches  was 
ample  for  the  formation  of  two  sets  of  quadrilles  and 
there  we  spent  the  evening. 

I  was  engaged  at  the  time  in  Wadhams'  store  which, 
like  other  stores  at  that  time,  was  a  rendezvous  for  the 
gathering  of  congenial  spirits  in  the  evenings.     On  the 


42  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

evening  following  this  escapade,  there  were  assembled  in 
the  store  Deacon  Chas.  Hutchinson,  Bryce  R.  Blair, 
Robt.  Love,  Tom  Macfarlane  and  perhaps  one  or  two 
others.  I  was  seated  at  the  desk  and  before  long  Mr. 
Hutchinson  launched  forth  on  the  enormity  of  the  of- 
fence which  had  been  perpetrated  in  the  house  of  God 
the  evening  before.  I  felt  the  poignancy  of  his  shafts 
which  I  realized  were  leveled  at  my  head  but  discreetly 
kept  silent.  After  the  matter  had  been  fully  discussed 
in  all  its  heinous  phases,  Mr.  Blair  declared  that  it  was 
a  shame  that  the  Presbyterian  congregation  which  was 
large  enough,  could  not  have  a  place  of  their  own  where 
they  could  worship  in  peace  and  safety,  and  promised 
that  he  would  see  to  it  that  they  would  have  such  a  place, 
and  turning  to  me  he  dictated  a  form  of  subscription  list 
for  that  purpose.  I  wrote  out  two  of  these  and  he  took 
one,  and  the  next  morning  started  out  to  canvass  down- 
town; the  other  one  I  think  Mr.  Hutchinson  took  to 
canvass  uptown,  and  Wilkes-Barre.  In  a  short  time  there- 
after enough  subscriptions  were  obtained  to  warrant  the 
commencement  of  the  erection  of  the  present  church  and 
parsonage  in  1866.  I  have  since  entertained  a  lingering 
hope  that  my  indirect  instrumentality,  by  this  sacriligous 
act,  in  further  extending  the  influence  of  Christianity 
would,  in  some  measure  serve  as  an  atonement  for  my 
many  sins  and  delinquencies. 

The  first  church  edifice  to  be  erected  after  that  of 
the  Academy  I  believe  was  the  Methodist  Church,  of 
which  I  have  before  given  a  description.  The  most 
active,  if  not  the  earliest  organized  sect,  however,  was 
that  of  the  Christian  congregation.  They  were  organ- 
ized in  1834  and  their  present  church  edifice  was  erected 
in  1857  by  H.  R.  Noll,  of  Lewisburg,  Pa.,  and  who  after- 
wards married  Miss  Almina  Davenport,  daughter  of  the 


Reminiscences    of   Plymoulh,    Pa.  43 

late  Samuel  Davenport,  Among  the  early  and  active 
ministers  of  that  congregation,  I  recall  the  names  of 
Elders  Lane,  Richmond,  Montgomery,  Hyatt,  Hayes, 
Clark,  and  last.  Rev.  Knipp,  to  whose  efforts  are  due  the 
added  improvements  to  the  church  and  the  erection  of 
their  new  parsonage  on  the  site  of  the  one  which  for 
many  years  has  stood  on  Shawnee  Avenue. 

It  would  be  too  much  of  an  undertaking  to  attempt 
to  describe  the  many  other  handsome  churches  of  differ- 
ent denominations  that  have  since  been  erected  through- 
out the  town;  but  the  largest  and  most  pretentious  one 
is  that  of  the  Catholic  denomination  erected  under  the 
auspices  of  Rev.  T.  J.  Donahoe  on  Church  Street,  a  very 
large  and  valuable  property. 

My  earliest  recollection  of  the  schools  of  Plymouth 
dates  back  to  those  kept  in  the  Academy.  Col.  Wright 
in  his  historical  sketches  speaks  of  a  schoolhouse  located 
on  Elm  Hill  which  was  torn  down  about  1815.  He 
also  gives  the  names  of  some  of  the  early  teachers  in  the 
old  Academy,  one  of  whom,  Thos.  Patterson,  I  have 
often  heard  my  mother  and  my  aunt  speak  of  in  terms 
of  high  commendation.  There  was  another  one,  how- 
ever, named  Benjamin  Parke  whom  I  have  heard  spoken 
of  by  old  people,  and  who  singularly  enough  he  does 
not  mention,  although  he  evidently  taught  there  in  1825 
and  was  one  of  his  associates. 

I  have  in  my  possession  an  old  record  book  of  a 
literary  society,  organized  at  that  time,  and  of  which 
apparently,  Mr.  Parke  was  the  leading  spirit.  The  mem- 
bers of  that  society  were:  Benjamin  Parke,  Wm.  C.  Rey- 
nolds, H.  B.  Wright,  C.  A.  Reynolds,  Luther  Nesbitt, 
Samuel  French,  Samuel  Wadhams,  E.  Chamberlin,  C. 
Atherton,  Caleb  Wright,  H.  Gaylord,  Adnah  Atherton 
and  G.  D.  Turner. 


44  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  records  of  that 
society,  which  are  mostly  written  in  beautiful  penman- 
ship, apparently  by  Mr.  Parke,  will  no  doubt  be  of 
interest.  On  the  outside  of  the  paper  cover  of  the  book, 
was  the  motto  of  the  society,  all  except  the  first  two  lines 
of  which  are  obliterated  and  are : 

Of  birth  or  blood  we  cannot  boast, 
Nor  gentry  does  our  club  afford. 

The  record  reads,  "On  Friday  the  i6th  of  September, 
1825,  a  number  of  young  men  met  at  the  store  of  Gay- 
lord  and  Reynolds,  and  agreed  to  form  themselves  into 
a  society  to  be  called  the  Bachelors  Club  of  Plymouth; 
a  system  of  regulations  were  adopted;  Benjamin  Parke 
was  chosen  President  for  the  next  meeting,  which  is  to 
be  on  Wednesday  the  21st  inst." 

The  rules  and  regulations  of  the  club,  which  are 
rather  stringent,  declared :  "This  club  shall  not  consist 
of  more  than  16  members,  two-thirds  of  whom  shall  be 
Bachelors.  Meetings  to  be  held  weekly.  The  object  of 
the  society,  "mental  improvement,"  for  which  purpose  at 
every  meeting  a  question  upon  some  subject  shall  be  fairly 
and  candidly  discussed,  speeches  limited  to  30  minutes 
at  a  time."  Religion  and  politics  were  disbarred  from 
discussion,  and  "No  profane,  obscene  or  indecent  lan- 
guage, or  irreverent  treatment  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
to  be  tolerated,"  and  "No  member  on  any  pretence  what- 
ever shall  reveal  any  of  the  secrets  of  this  society,  or 
mention  them  to  any  but  members;  and  particularly  if 
any  one  shall  do  it  with  a  view  to  ridicule  or  laugh  at 
any  of  the  rest  of  the  members,  he  shall  be  expelled,  the 
society  and  the  members  requested  to  avoid  him  as  a 
friend  or  comrade." 

No  member  could  be  admitted  without  "the  unani- 
mous consent  of  all  the  members  present."     Any  trans- 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  45 

gression  of  the  rules  were  punishable  for  "the  first  offence 
by  reprimand  by  the  President,  for  the  second,  silenced 
for  the  evening,  and  for  the  third,  expulsion."  The 
President  and  four  members  had  the  power  to  transact 
any  "common  business  of  the  club,"  but  a  majority  of  the 
members  were  necessary  to  expel  a  member.  The  time 
of  meeting  was  half-past  six  o'clock  and  any  member  who 
was  not  present  at  7  o'clock  without  a  sufficient  excuse, 
was  to  be  fined  634  cents,  and  the  President  was  to  "pay 
12^  cents  for  non-attendance  at  any  time." 

In  accordance  with  their  agreement,  their  first  meeting 
was  held  on  Wednesday,  September  21st,  1825,  when 
they  "agreed  to  discuss  the  following  question:  'Do  the 
highest  class  of  people  enjoy  more  happiness  than  the 
lowest?'  "     Decided  in  the  negative. 

Other  questions  discussed  at  subsequent  meetings,  and 
which  may  serve  as  interesting  subjects  of  discussion  by 
the  present  generation,  were : 

"Is  avarice  a  worse  vice  than  intemperance?" 
"Do   mankind    derive   more   pleasure   and    happiness   from 
anticipation  than  participation?" 

"Is  the  prodigal  a  greater  nuisance  to  society  than  the 
miser?" 

The  next  two  questions  may  perhaps  be  of  interest 
to  the  female  suffragists : 

"Do  outward  accomplishments  tend  more  to  inspire  love 
toward  the  female  sex,  than  real  worth?"  Argument  and  ques- 
tion decided  in  the  negative. 

"Would  a  widow  at  the  age  of  30,  make  a  better  wife  than 
a  maid  of  the  same  age?"  Argument  and  question  decided  in  the 
negative. 

This  last  question,  discussed  November  29th,  appar- 
ently "busted  up"  the  club,  for  they  do  not  appear  to 
have  held  any  further  meetings. 

Benjamin  Parke  afterwards  became  a  very  prominent 


46  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  In  i860  was  the  presiding  officer 
of  the  Grand  Chapter  of  Pennsylvania  of  Royal  Arch 
Masons. 

The  earliest  teachers  in  the  Academy  within  my  recol- 
lection were  Geo.  W.  Freeman,  who  boarded  at  my 
mother's  when  I  was  quite  young;  other  names  I  recall 
were  Dibble  and  Turner;  the  latter  was  called  "little 
Turner,"  on  account  of  his  diminutive  size  and  whom  I 
remember  particularly  as  being  an  inveterate  user  of  to- 
bacco and  for  lack  of  a  cuspidor  would  expectorate  on 
the  floor  by  his  seat.  I  have  no  remembrance  of  any 
other  than  the  common  branches  of  learning  having  been 
taught.  Quill  pens  were  used  for  writing,  the  teacher 
with  his  "pen-knife"  keeping  the  pens  in  order.  It  was 
some  little  time  after  I  had  begun  to  write  that  steel  pens 
came  into  use.  The  public  school  system  was  then  in  its 
infancy,  and  there  was  much  prejudice  in  the  minds  of 
many  against  "free  schools."  The  minimum  length  of 
the  school  term  was  four  months.  The  common  methods 
of  maintaining  proper  discipline  was  by  means  of  a  ruler 
applied  on  the  hand,  or  by  the  use  of  a  good  sized  cudgel 
cut  from  a  tree  or  bush,  which  would  frequently,  at  un- 
expected times  and  on  inopportune  occasions  fall  heavily 
across  the  shoulders  of  the  transgressor,  and  for  very 
serious  offences  the  guilty  one  would  be  required  to  step 
out  on  the  floor  and  remove  his  coat.  Sometimes  on 
these  occasions  stubborn  resistance  would  be  offered  on 
the  part  of  the  culprit,  and  then  a  struggle  would  ensue 
which,  if  it  did  not  inspire  terror,  would  afford  a  sort  of 
diversion  for  the  boys. 

The  little  schoolhouse  located  at  the  corner  of  Coal 
and  Main  Streets  with  which  I  am  more  familiar,  mention 
of  which  has  heretofore  been  made,  was  moved  when  I 
was  quite  young,  to  a  position  directly  opposite  my  father's 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  47 

house,  where  for  many  years  the  young  ideas  were  taught 
to  sprout.  This  building  was  fitted  up  with  a  high  pulpit 
on  a  raised  platform  at  the  far  end,  on  each  side  of  which 
were  long  desks  with  benches,  and  transverse  rows  of 
desks  and  benches  extending  down  the  room  on  both  sides 
of  the  aisle;  and  in  front  of  and  facing  the  pulpit  were 
recitation  seats.  This  was  also  called  the  "Lecture 
room."  I  don't  know  why,  unless  to  give  it  a  distinctive 
name,  for  I  don't  remember  of  any  lectures  being  given 
there,  although  there  may  have  been.  Religious  services 
were  held  there  in  later  years  by  a  Welsh  congregation. 
Among  the  names  of  early  teachers  here  I  can  only 
recall  those  of  a  man  named  Brown  who  ran  away  with 
his  wife's  sister;  one  named  Box,  and  one  I  think  named 
Curtis,  and  Miss  Julia  Reynolds.  The  most  familiar 
and  popular  one,  however,  was  James  Garrahan,  late  of 
Dallas.     He  held  the  position  for  a  number  of  winters. 

One  of  the  prominent  and  favorite  features  of  the 
schools  of  those  days,  and  one  I  think  that  could  be  fol- 
lowed with  great  advantage  to  the  pupils  of  to-day,  was 
the  "Spelling  School."  These  would  be  held  sometimes 
as  concluding  exercise  of  the  week,  and  frequently  on  an 
evening,  when  they  were  occasions  of  very  great  interest, 
and  always  drew  a  crowded  house.  The  custom  was  to 
choose  two  recognized  good  spellers  as  leaders  and  con- 
testants, who  would  range  themselves  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  room,  which  had  previously  been  arranged  for  the  oc- 
casion, and  they  would  choose  their  spellers  promiscuously 
from  the  audience.  The  ones  so  selected  would  take  their 
places  on  the  floor  as  called,  beside  their  respective  leader 
until  the  lines  extended  the  entire  length  of  the  room  in 
equal  numbers.  Then  the  teacher  would  announce  to  one 
of  the  leaders  the  word  to  be  spelled  and  if  spelled  cor- 
rectly, the  next  word  would  be  given  to  his  opponent  and 


■\' 


l\i  iniiiiu  iiii  i\     of     riytnoulli,     l\i. 


so  oil  .il((-t  ii.il(-l\  down  ili(-  Itiu'  III  (.ISC  ol  .1  nnss  in 
Npcllit)^  (lie  (l(  liiit|ti(  Ml  woiiM  l.ikc  Ins  or  lui  sr.U  aiul 
(lie  Inn-  woiiM  (lose  up  I  In-  side  whiili  rcinainrd  staiul- 
ing,  Ol  wt'ir  iut(  "spcllrtl  down"  ill  tlic  close  ol  tlu'  con 
IrsJ  were  dccl.iicil  (lie  wimu  is,  lluir  were  some  rxtia 
ordiiiiin  j'.ood  spclKis  m  (hose  il.iys,  .md  (lusr  oiiasion.il 
I'ood'sts  ii(M(cd  iiiiuli  hu'ndiv  ri\alr\  aiiw)ii|^  (Ik*  scholais 
and  i(  was  lonsulcrcd  (|iii(c  .«  i omplinutU  (o  l>r  srlrc(cd 
as  .1   "sprllri"." 

,\(  one  (*i  111  ol  si  Iiool  I  m  iiuiniui  ol  li.u  ii\|»  .iKcndctI 
(luMc,  "Nr\v("  Siiiilh  srlcilcd  (lie  pnlpK  as  his  scat,  aiul 
IrtMliirnllv  when  (he  (caihci's  h.uk  would  he  hicned  he 
WiMiKI  .imuse  (he  audienee  \\i(h  his  aniies. 

I  his  old  si  hoolliouse  w.is  in  i  lu  (Mil  years  eoincKed 
in(i»  (he  i^imnuiuous  and  hase  puiposi-  ol  .1  («n>|  .md  oil 
h«Mise  U\  (he  I  .  iV  W.  W  C'oal  I'o  ,  l>u(  has  now  rixirely 
ilisuppeaieil,  and  sueh  is  I. line. 


(,'ii  \rn  K  \'l  I. 

I''iumtin'  i\!i  ili.nl  riuf.liin)'.  ;ii\«I  I\l;iikrlin)'.  (ii.iin  l''la\  \t\ 
«Iii>.ti\  I  li.  <  >lil  Spinmn!'.  W'licck  Pippm!'.  l-'iinillrs  (oisl 
Mill'.  (\y\\  li\.lu'.ll\  Hdll.lm;-  .«l  \^l■.  .111.1  HtMls  Slmw- 
nvi"  ,\('..iuf.t  ilic  Wmitl  (>iiiMii  ol  .Mdi'.iii  Mctinuls  ol  I'lr 
pnrin^  .mil  Slnpi'im'.  i,'n.il  (  ^M  Kcioul-.  (.'imI  Maikris 
0>st  1*1  Mimii!',  .md  Scllin-'  i'luc.  loi  ("o.il  ll.iul  Tinirs 
—  P('ploi;iI>1r  ( 'oiulilioiis      \N  .irr-.  .mil   ('n-t    t)l    I 'oinmiulitif'.. 


Ill   l<M\I'    (lu    ..»il    indu-.dy    \yas  vlex  eloped,    and    IMy- 
■  inowl  li  h.iil  I'll  onw  .1  ininin^\  t(M\n,  l.inninf;  n\'.(s  (he 

pimiipil.  il  \\o[  (lu-  (Mil\  iiiiup.itton  ol  (lu-  inh.ihi(  .iM(s. 
riu-  JMi'.id  t.iiiK-  .u  1 1  •.  ol  liu-  .SIi.M\iu-r  I'l.Ks,  anil  (he 
s(«>n\  .uul  K--;s  iMoiliu(i\i-  lul.l-.  imi  ilu-  iuo\in(.nn  anvl  hill- 
sidi-.  Iiiini.hrd  rmplo\nu-n(  loi  lU'.nh  i-NCiyhody.  Waj^es 
for   }.\oo.l    I  .n  m   h.inds   would    .i\i-i.u'.e    .ilu>u(    sexenly  fi>'e 


Rctiiniisi  ciu  cs    of    riyinoiillt,    I'd.  4<) 

cents  a  (lay,  and  (lie  hours  <>(  lalxtr  wfic  from  sun  to 
sun,  and  then  tame  (lie  ordinary  "rhores"  about  the  barn 
and  house — caring  for  the  animals  aiul  jj[ettin^  in  the  fire- 
wood and  loal. 

1  lay  and  ^rain  when  I  was  a  hoy  were  all  c  ul  wilii 
scythe  and  cradle,  and  one  ol  my  youthlul  tribulations  1 
well  remember  in  that  eonneetion,  was  the  task  ol  turning 
the  j2;rindstone  to  sharpen  those  detested  im|)lemeiits. 
Wa(j[es  during  I  lie  haying;  and  harvesting  season  rose 
from  a  dollar  (o  a  dollar  and  a  <|iiarter  a  day  whidi  was 
consideri'd  almost  fabulous,  but  swinj^injj;  a  scythe  or 
cradle  all  day  was  very  hard  work. 

( )n  these  (xcasums  il  was  a  very  (oinmon  (iislom,  and 
indeed  was  exiuilcd  lo  have  a  bolllc  ol  whiskey  stand 
beside  the  water  ju^  in  the  field,  and  about  ten  o'clock  a 
generous  luncheon  would  be  carried  to  the  harvesters.  On 
these  j)articular  occasions  the  labor  o(  |)rovi(linjj;  lor  a 
p[un^>;  of  ravenous  workmen,  and  in  LkI,  on  many  oilier 
days  of  the  year,  the  women  ol  the  household  did  not 
enjoy  what  ir>  vulvar  parlance  is  now  called  ;i  "sna|)." 

While  I  have  no  distinct  recollection  of  liow  or  where 
flax  was  cultivated,  that  it  was  one  of  the  im|)ortant 
features  of  ajj^riciillm  al  industry  mikI  domc-slic  manufac- 
ture there  can  be  no  cloiibl.  I  liave  often  witnessed  and 
participated  in  the  process  of  "breaking  and  hetclieling 
flax."  '('he  plan!  which  jj[rew  to  about  the  si/e  of  tim- 
othy grass,  having  a  hard  iiid  woody  cxleiioi  or  bark, 
was  first  |)assed  ihrriugb  the  "llax  break"  which  in  con- 
struction resem!)lc(l  somewhal  a  shaving  horse  or  bench, 
with  a  long  wooden  spring  handle-  or  hammer,  and  manip- 
ulated by  hand  power.  I  his  mac  bine  would  break  up  the 
hard  woody  stem  when  il  would  be;  drawn  througli  tlic 
hetchel — a    board    or    block    filled    with    long   iron    teetli 


50  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

something  like  a  comb — which  would  remove  the  coarse 
material  and  tow  from  the  fibre  or  flax. 

I  have  a  distinct  remembrance,  when  I  was  quite  a 
large  boy,  of  wearing  a  blue  checked  suit  of  linen 
clothes  of  my  mother's  manufacture  of  which  I  was  very 
proud. 

The  wool  industry  was  a  very  important  factor  in  the 
domestic  economy,  and  the  whirr  and  buzz  of  the  old 
spinning  wheel  was  a  very  familiar  sound  in  many  of  the 
dwellings.  The  wool  having  been  properly  prepared  by 
means  of  some  now  forgotten  process,  into  long  slender 
strings  or  rolls,  these  were  singly  connected  to  the  end  of 
a  long  iron  or  steel  spindle  which  was  made  to  swiftly 
revolve  by  means  of  a  large  wooden  wheel;  the  spinner 
holding  the  roll  in  her  left  hand  would  walk  slowly  back- 
ward and  forward,  drawing  the  twisted  thread  to  the  end 
of  the  roll  and  then  retracing  her  steps  in  winding  it  on 
the  spindle,  a  process  necessarily  involving  a  great  many 
steps  in  the  course  of  a  day's  spinning. 

When  the  spindle  was  filled  with  yarn  it  would  be 
wound  on  the  arms  of  a  reel,  which,  after  making  a 
certain  number  of  revolutions  would  record  a  click,  indi- 
cating the  completion  of  a  knot  or  skein.  There  were 
several  other  implements  or  machines  employed  in  the 
process  of  manufacture  and  preparation,  one  of  which 
was  called  a  "swift,"  but  their  uses,  and  even  their  respec- 
tive appellations  are  now  long  forgotten  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  many  now  living  can  remember  them.  After 
the  yarn  by  various  processes  had  been  manipulated  into 
the  required  form,  it  was  consigned  to  the  dye  tub  to 
receive  whatever  color  pleased  the  fancy.  All  the  various 
processes  of  this  once  familiar  domestic  industry  can  now 
be  safely  relegated  among  the  lost  arts,  along  with  those 
of  making  soap  and  starch  and  mince  pies. 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  51 

There  was  yet  another  very  important  industry  of 
home  consumption  which  deserves  mention,  that  of  the 
manufacture  of  dipped  tallow  candles  which  were  the 
principal,  and  in  fact  often  the  only  convenient  effective 
means  of  illumination  in  early  days,  although  I  have 
heard  of  instances  of  fat  pine  knots  being  used  for  that 
purpose. 

The  modus  operandi  of  dipping  candles  was  to  slip 
the  loop  of  the  cotton  wicks  which  had  been  cut  to  the 
desired  lengths,  on  to  slim  elder  stalks  or  round  wooden 
rods  of  about  two  feet  in  length,  say  six  or  eight  wicks 
on  each  rod.  These  would  be  arranged  on  horizontal 
supports  holding  perhaps  a  dozen  or  more  rods.  The 
operator,  seated  by  the  side  of  the  frame  supporting  the 
rods,  and  within  easy  reaching  distance,  beginning  at  one 
end,  would  lift  the  rods  and  slowly  dip  the  wicks  into  a 
pot  of  hot  tallow  by  her  side,  and  by  the  time  the  end  of 
the  frame  was  reached  the  tallowed  wicks  would  be  suffi- 
ciently hardened  to  repeat  the  process,  and  thus,  by  slow 
degrees,  the  candles,  like  icicles,  would  grow  to  the  de- 
sired size,  and  they  were  much  more  desirable  and  lasting 
than  those  of  the  moulded  variety. 

The  many  progressive  stages  made  within  the  last 
hundred  years  in  methods  of  illumination,  successively 
from  tallow  dips  and  dirty  whale  oil  lamps,  to  danger- 
ous camphine  or  burning  fluid,  and  kerosene  to  gas,  and 
finally,  the  wonderful  perfection  attained,  and  the  saving 
of  labor  afforded  through  means  of  the  magic  electric 
button  device,  can  scarcely  be  realized  and  appreciated 
by  the  present  generation. 

After  the  crops  had  been  all  gathered,  and  the  fall 
work  completed,  then  just  before  the  holiday  season 
came  the  butchering,  and  after  that  threshing  of  grain, 
which  was  sometimes  done  by  having  the  horses  and  colts 


52  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

tramp  over  it  on  the  barn  floor,  but  was  more  largely 
done  by  means  of  the  flail,  the  threshers  receiving  their 
pay  in  grain,  the  amount  thereof  being  governed  by  the 
number  of  bushels  threshed. 

In  the  early  days  Easton  was  the  principal  market 
place  for  the  farmers'  products  which  were  mostly  hauled 
there  on  sleds  during  the  winter  season,  but  at  the  time 
of  which  I  write  the  millers  and  merchants  of  the  valley 
were  the  principal  customers.  There  being  no  bakers' 
shops  in  those  days,  every  household  baked  their  own 
bread,  cakes  and  pies.  The  grain  for  the  flour  and  meal 
was  taken  to  the  mill  to  be  ground,  the  miller  receiving 
his  pay  therefor  in  tolls  which  he  deducted. 

It  was  not  an  unusual  custom  to  carry  small  grists  to 
the  mill  on  horseback,  the  sack  being  thrown  across  the 
horse's  back  in  front  of  the  rider. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  but  I  can't  vouch  for  the  truth 
of  it,  that  some  riders,  in  order  to  balance  the  bag  on  the 
horse's  back,  would  put  a  stone  of  equal  weight  in  the 
other  end. 

The  mills  to  which  the  grain  would  be  taken  to  be 
ground  into  flour  or  meal,  besides  the  one  of  my  father's 
already  mentioned,  were  Shupp's  mill  up  near  the  present 
L.  &  B.  Railroad  junction;  Pugh's  mill,  which  was  located 
a  short  distance  up  Harvey's  Creek,  and  Raub's  and 
Dorrance's  mills  in  Mill  Hollow,  now  Luzerne  Borough. 
All  of  these  mills  I  think  were  run  by  water  power.  There 
was  another  mill  up  Wadham's  Creek  but  that  did  not 
pretend  to  do  much  business.  I  have  taken  grists  to  all 
of  these  mills. 

The  coal  industry  as  has  been  previously  noted,  com- 
menced here  in  1807  by  the  Smith  brothers,  at  what  was 
generally  known  as  the  "Big  Coal  Bed"  on  Coal  Street, 
the  coal  being  hauled  on  wagons  down  to  wharves  on  the 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  53 

river  bank  where  it  was  loaded,  at  first  on  arks,  and  later, 
after  the  North  Branch  Canal  was  built,  into  canal  boats. 

The  principal  roads  to  the  river  over  which  the  coal 
was  hauled  was  one  just  above  the  Samuel  Davenport 
store;  another,  at  the  corner  of  which  stood  C.  E. 
Young's  house;  both  of  these  roads  leading  to  my  father's 
wharf.  One  by  Turner's  store  leading  to  Turner's  and 
Ransom's  wharves,  and  yet  another,  near  the  present  M. 
E.  parsonage  and  leading  to  Wadham's  wharf.  All  of 
these  roads  are  now  closed  up  and  but  little  evidence,  if 
any,  remains  of  their  former  existence. 

The  arks,  which  I  have  mentioned,  and  I  believe  also 
most  of  the  flat  bottomed  boats  used  in  transporting  the 
coal  to  market,  were  built  in  what  was  called  the  "basin," 
a  natural  formation  of  the  land  situated  near  Wadham's 
Creek  between  Gabriel's  blacksmith  shop  and  the  river, 
which  every  spring,  at  the  time  of  high  water  would  fill 
up,  when  the  arks  or  boats  could  be  floated  down  the 
creek  to  the  river. 

Those  flat-bottomed  boats  came  to  be  known  all  along 
the  line  of  the  canal  as  "Shawnee  boats,"  and  by  reason 
of  the  progressive  and  aggressive  qualities  of  their  re- 
spective crews,  I  believe  originated  the  familiar  watch- 
word of  "Shawnee  against  the  world." 

The  method  of  preparing  and  shipping  coal  to  mar- 
ket in  those  early  days  was  very  simple.  There  were  but 
two  recognized  sizes  of  coal,  "coarse  or  lump,"  and  "fine 
coal."  The  former  size  was  just  as  it  came  from  the 
mine,  in  lumps  often  as  large  as  one  or  two  men  could 
handle,  and  the  latter,  perhaps  as  large  as  a  man's  two 
hands  down  to  chestnut  size,  or  what  would  not  easily 
pass  through  the  meshes  of  a  "screen  shovel."  The  coal 
was  hauled  from  the  mine  to  the  river  and  piled  on  the 
bank  and  from  thence  loaded  into  boats  with  wheelbar- 


54  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

rows.  All  pieces  of  slate  were  thrown  out,  and  that  on 
the  large  lumps  removed  with  a  pick.  This  primitive 
method  of  preparing  coal  was,  in  some  respects,  superior 
to  those  of  the  present  day,  in  that  there  was  at  least 
some  pretentions  made  of  honesty.  Nowadays  the  slate 
is  ground  up  and  skillfully  mixed  with  the  coal  for  weight 
and  everything  goes. 

The  use  of  arks  for  the  transportation  of  coal  was 
probably  abandoned  about  the  year  1840.  I  have  in  my 
possession  an  old  account  book  which  was  kept  by  my 
father,  in  which  there  is  a  credit  of  $24.00  given  to 
Adnah  Atherton  for  "building  an  ark"  in  1838,  and  in 
1839  a  credit  of  $25.00  was  given  to  Daniel  Gardiner 
for  a  like  service.  In  February,  1841,  is  a  record  of 
"boat  sides"  being  hauled  by  Samuel  Vanloon,  and  an- 
other of  "slitting  railing  for  boat"  by  Alba  Bangs,  and 
also  of  "boat  plank"  having  been  purchased. 

In  April  of  that  year  begins  the  first  record  of  coal 
being  shipped  by  boats.  The  average  boat  load  was  sixty 
tons  and  was  shipped  to  Bloomsburg,  Danville,  Harris- 
burg,  Columbia,  Lancaster,  Marietta,  Milton  and  other 
points,  the  principal  market,  however,  being  Danville, 
to  Peter  Baldy  for  his  furnaces. 

The  coal  Industry  during  the  40's  evidently  did  not 
yield  enormous  dividends.  The  miner  received  43^^ 
cents  a  ton  for  digging,  and  about  the  same  price  was 
paid  for  boating  service  to  Danville.  A  cargo  of  60 
tons  delivered  there  in  1841  was  sold  for  $2.25  a  ton,  or 
$135.     The  cost  of  the  same  was: 

For  Mining $26.00 

Boating  Service  .  .  .    26.55 
Canal  Tolls 16.31  $68.86 

Apparent  profit $66.14 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  55 

But  in  that  apparent  profit  no  account  is  taken  of  roy- 
alty for  coal,  the  cost  of  carting  from  the  mine  to  the 
river,  or  the  loading  into  boats;  so  the  net  profit  was 
considerably  less  than  50  cents  a  ton. 

On  a  cargo  of  57  tons  sent  to  Harrisburg,  the  cost 
of  boating  was  $87.74  or  $1.54  a  ton,  and  the  canal  tolls 
were  $70,  On  another  cargo  of  58  tons  to  Marietta,  the 
cost  of  running  was  $1.00  a  ton,  and  the  tolls  $53.54. 

During  those  years  there  seemed  to  be  no  stable  or 
fixed  price  for  coal  in  the  markets.  The  operators  ap- 
parently were  glad  to  sell  their  production  at  whatever 
price  they  could  get  for  it.  Thus,  in  1841,  while  the  cost 
of  mining  and  delivery  remained  the  same,  it  was  sold  at 
Bloomsburg  for  $1.50  a  ton.  From  about  1842  to  1846 
it  sold  in  Danville  for  $1.87^  and  $1.75,  at  Columbia 
for  $1.25,  and  Marietta  for  $1.80  per  ton,  and  in  many 
instances  was  largely  paid  for  in  general  merchandise, 
horses  and  buggies,  pork,  pigs,  iron  pots  and  kettles, 
earthenware,  whiskey,  in  fact  in  almost  any  or  everything 
that  could  be  utilized  in  the  ordinary  process  of  living. 
Those  indeed  were  strenuous  times  of  living.  The  State 
government  had  embarked  in  the  banking  business  and  in 
internal  improvements,  the  building  of  canals  and  rail- 
roads almost  indiscriminately,  and  for  which  purpose 
loans  had  been  negotiated,  the  interest  on  which  was 
provided  for  by  further  loans. 

In  1839  David  R.  Porter  was  installed  as  Governor, 
and  he  found  the  government  at  the  mercy  of  wily  poli- 
ticians and  dishonest  contractors.  The  country  was 
flooded  with  State  banknotes,  many  of  which  would  not 
stay  good  over  night.  Monies  obtained  by  loans  for  pro- 
jected improvements  and  necessary  repairs  thereto,  had 
been  ruthlessly  squandered  or  stolen,  and  the  purposes 
for  which  the   money  had  been  borrowed,   ignored   or 


^6  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

neglected,  with  the  treasury  bankrupt,  and  in  1843  ^^^ 
State  was  unable  to  pay  the  interest  on  her  loans. 

Wages  of  workmen  from  about  1839  to  1848  ranged 
from  50  to  75  cents  a  day,  and  they  received  their  pay 
mostly  in  household  necessaries,  which  were  largely  sup- 
plied from  the  private  family  stores  of  the  employer. 

Prices  of  flour  during  this  period  ranged  from  five 
to  eight  dollars  a  barrel;  coal  at  retail  $1.56  a  load  de- 
livered; a  load  estimated  at  one  and  a  quarter  tons;  coffee 
15  to  17  cents  a  pound;  tea,  $1.12^  a  pound;  salt  and 
smoked  meats,  10  cents;  butter,  17  cents;  sugar,  1 1  to 
12^  cents;  molasses,  62y2  to  75  cents;  whale  oil,  65  to 
75  cents  a  gallon;  powder,  $2.75  a  keg;  potatoes,  25  to 
31  cents  a  bushel;  wheat,  $i.i2j/^,  and  corn,  ^6  cents  a 
bushel. 


Chapter  VIII. 

Early  Coal  Operators  and  Mines — Choke  Island — Broderick  and 
Conyngham's  Troubles — Exit  of  Individual  Operators  and  the 
Entrance  of  Corporations — Capture  of  Fugitive  Slaves — Bru- 
talities of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — Uncle  Tom's  Cabin. 

AMONG  the  early  coal  operations  in  Plymouth,  the 
Gaylord  mine  and  railroad  has  already  been  de- 
scribed. There  was  another  similar  railroad  extending 
to  the  river  which  is  now  known  as  the  Bull  Run  Rail- 
road, and  on  which  the  cars  were  propelled  by  gravity 
from  the  old  mine  now  owned  by  the  D.  &  H.  Co.  and 
located  in  Poke  Hollow.  This  mine,  I  think,  was  first 
operated  by  William  Patton,  and  afterwards  by  David 
Levi,  who  also  conducted  a  store  near  the  mine,  and 
whose  first  stock  of  merchandise  was  negotiated  for  by 
my  father.  Later,  Messrs.  Charles  Bennett,  A.  J.  Davis, 
and  a  man  from  New  Jersey  named  James  Martin,  came 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  57 

into  control  under  the  firm  name  of  Bennett,  Davis  & 
Co.,  and  they  were  succeeded  by  Mr.  J.  C.  F'uller.  The 
old  "mud  tunnel"  up  the  road  leading  to  "Jersey  Hill" 
was  operated  a  short  time,  I  think,  by  the  Turners.  In 
1846  there  was  an  operation  somewhere  here,  conducted 
for  a  short  time  by  E.  Bulkley,  Caleb  Shonk  and  Draper 
Smith,  and  called  the  Draper  Smith  tunnel.  I  have  been 
unable  to  locate  that  mine  unless  it  may  have  been  the  one 
just  above  the  first  French  tunnel  on  Coal  Street,  or  the 
mud  tunnel  which  was  in  operation  on  a  small  scale  about 
that  period.  A  little  way  southwest  of  the  mud  tunnel 
was  the  Ransom  coal  bed,  which  was  abandoned  before 
my  remembrance.  Michael  Shonk  was  killed  in  this  mme 
in  1846  (the  father  of  John  J.  Shonk). 

The  Jersey  coal  mine,  which  is  now  under  lease  to 
the  D.  L.  and  W.  R.  R.  Co.,  was  first  opened  by  Joseph 
Wright,  and  was  later  operated  by  my  father  until  the  late 
50's  when  it  was  operated  by  Robert  Love  and  the  Hutch- 
inson brothers  as  Robert  Love  and  Co.  They  built  a  rail- 
road and  plane  on  which  cars  were  run  by  gravity  down 
to  Chutes  near  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R.,  at  a  point  on  the 
main  road  a  little  way  below,  or  west  of  present  Wright 
slope  and  fan  house.  It  was  from  those  Chutes  that  the 
first  cars  of  coal  were  hauled  over  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R. 
from  Plymouth,  about  1855  or  1856. 

One  of  the  early  coal  mines  to  be  opened  in  this 
locality  was  the  famous  "Grand  Tunnel"  mine  opened 
by  Freeman  Thomas — Col.  Wright  says — about  1828. 
It  is  located  at  the  place  named  from  it — Grand  Tunnel. 

About  the  year  1852  or  1853  this  mine  began  to  be 
operated  by  Mr.  William  L.  Lance,  who  later  became 
one  of  the  most  progressive  and  prominent  citizens  of 
Plymouth.  The  coal  from  this  mine  was  run  into 
Chutes  on  the  river  bank  near  by,  and  then  loaded  into 


58  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

boats.  In  the  river,  about  opposite  the  mouth  of  this 
mine,  there  was  a  small  island  formed,  which  Mr.  Lance 
desired  to  utilize  in  his  operations,  but  Jamison  Harvey, 
whose  coal  mine  was  on  the  land  adjoining  the  Grand 
Tunnel,  claimed  the  ownership  of  it.  They  met  on  the 
island,  and  after  wrangling  over  the  matter,  Mr.  Harvey 
seized  Lance  by  the  throat  and  ejected  him.  The  island 
thereafter  was  known  by  the  name  of  "Choke  Island." 

Mr.  Lance  continued  to  operate  this  mine  for  several 
years  when  he  was  succeeded  by  a  firm  or  company  styled 
the  New  England  Coal  Co.,  whose  manager  was  a  man 
named  Brown,  from  Boston,  and  who  kept  a  bachelor's 
hall  while  here,  in  the  old  Samuel  Ransom  homestead. 

This  mine  property  later  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  Susquehanna  Coal  Co.,  and  the  coal  therefrom  being 
removed  through  other  openings,  the  Grand  Tunnel  was 
abandoned.  The  Jamison  Harvey  mine,  next  adjoining 
the  Grand  Tunnel  property,  was  operated  in  the  same 
manner  by  Mr.  Harvey  for  a  number  of  years,  when  it 
also  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Susquehanna  Coal 
Co. 

The  Nottingham  shaft,  owned  mostly  by  the  Rey- 
nolds heirs  and  members  of  the  Nottingham  Coal  Co., 
was  sunk,  and  the  large  breaker  built  during  the  middle 
sixties,  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Bryce  R.  Blair, 
who  was  formerly  connected  with  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R. 
This  mine  was  first  operated  by  Messrs.  Thomas  Brod- 
erick  and  Thomas  D.  Conyngham  of  Wilkes-Barre.  They 
struggled  along  for  several  years  until  they  were  com- 
pelled, by  reason  of  the  troublesome  and  petty  annoy- 
ances caused  them  by  their  employes,  to  sell  out  their 
interests  to  the  L.  &  W.  B.  Coal  Co.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear,  those  obstructive  tactics  on  the  part  of  the  em- 
ployes who  were  receiving  generous  wages,  were  engi- 


Reminiscences   of  Plymouth,   Pa.  59 

neered  largely,  if  not  entirely,  by  men  "to  the  manor 
born,"  whose  former  lives  had  been  one  of  constant 
struggle  with  the  hardships,  privations  and  environments 
of  dire  poverty,  but  had,  under  the  vicious  teachings  and 
influence  of  demagogues  and  dangerous  labor  agitators, 
become  imbued  with  the  idea  that  the  servant  should  be 
master  and  rule  with  autocratic  power.  Almost  every 
day  at  that  mine  a  strike  would  be  inaugurated,  based  on 
some  trivial  and  ridiculous  cause,  and  when  that  was  lack- 
ing, when  the  employes  would  assemble  in  the  morning, 
it  is  a  notorious  fact  that  often  a  stone,  wet  on  both 
sides,  would  be  tossed  up  to  decide  whether  or  not  they 
should  resume  work  for  the  day,  the  wet  side  winning. 
Mr.  Broderick,  the  manager,  a  very  honorable  and  fair- 
dealing  man,  would  almost  invariably  grant  every  conces- 
sion demanded,  only  to  learn  the  next  day  that  some  new 
grievance  would  arise,  and  it  became  proverbial  for  him 
to  inquire  each  morning,  before  arriving  at  the  mine, 
"what  new  grievance  is  there  to  settle  to-day." 

Similarly,  Mr.  Broderick's  unfortunate  and  disastrous 
experience  has  been  that  of  many  other  individual  oper- 
ators, until  finally  the  management  of  the  coal  industry 
has  generally  passed  into  the  control  of  powerful  cor- 
porations able  to  combat  all  difficulties,  and  yet,  some  of 
those  who  were  responsible  for  the  change  wonder  why 
these  soulless  corporations  are  so  stern  and  heartless  in 
their  control. 

The  Wadhams  coal  mine  up  Wadhams  Creek  was 
operated  during  the  50's  by  E.  C.  Wadhams  and  after- 
wards came  into  the  possession  of  the  L.  &  W.  B.  Coal 
Co.,  and  until  recent  years  was  operated  through  other 
channels  by  the  Parrish  Coal  Co.,  of  which  Mr.  Charles 
Parrish  was  the  founder  and  first  president.  The  Dodson 
mine,  so  called  from  the  men  who  sank  the  shaft  located 


6o  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

on  Elm  Hill,  was  owned  mostly  by  John  J.  Shonk.  It  has 
been  in  operation  under  different  managements  for  a 
number  of  years  and  is  now  in  the  control  of  Mr.  J.  C. 
Haddock  under  the  title  of  the  Plymouth  Coal  Co.  The 
Gaylord  mine  has  been  under  several  different  manage- 
ments. During  the  6o's  a  Mr.  Langdon  of  Elmira — the 
father-in-law  of  Mark  Twain — was  in  control,  I  think, 
under  the  name  of  the  Northern  Coal  and  Iron  Co. 

The  preceding  reference  to  Mr.  Jamison  Harvey, 
whose  residence  was  located  up  on  the  hill  just  beyond 
the  Grand  Tunnel,  recalls  an  incident  of  historic  interest 
which  occurred  there  not  a  very  great  while  before  the 
time  of  the  Choke  Island  incident  just  related,  and  will 
be  of  interest  in  this  connection.  It  concerns  the  capture 
there  by  a  U.  S.  Marshal  of  a  colored  man  in  his  em- 
ployment who  was  claimed  as  being  a  fugitive  slave.  That 
act  was  committed  under  the  authority  of  an  act  of  Con- 
gress which  was  passed  in  1850  and  known  as  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law,  one  of  the  most  infamous  laws  that  was 
ever  enacted.  The  law  provided  for  the  surrender  to 
any  claimant  thereof,  of  any  person  they  might  choose  to 
declare  was  a  runaway  slave,  and  all  that  was  necessary 
to  do  under  that  law  to  prove  ownership  of  the  person  so 
claimed  was  to  make  an  affidavit  before  any  commissioner 
appointed  to  take  depositions,  that  the  person  so  claimed 
was  a  slave  who  had  escaped  from  his  master,  and  upon 
the  proper  certificate  from  that  official,  without  any  fur- 
ther ceremony  the  accused  persons  were  hurried  off  into 
slavery.  Such  persons  being  property,  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  testify,  nor  were  they  granted  a  hearing  before 
a  judge  or  jury.  One  of  the  obnoxious  features  of  the 
law  which  was  really  in  the  nature  of  a  bribe  to  the  com- 
missioners, was  his  fee  of  $10  in  case  he  directed  a  sur- 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  6i 

render  of  the  person  of  the  accused,  otherwise  it  was 
only  half  that  amount. 

In  this  case  Mr.  Harvey  was,  I  believe,  subjected  to 
a  fine  for  the  efforts  he  exerted  to  save  his  man;  whereas, 
under  the  benign  provisions  of  the  law  he  was  in  duty 
bound  to  aid  in  securing  his  arrest. 

Another  similar  incident  occurred  at  about  the  same 
time  at  the  old  Phoenix  Hotel  in  Wilkes-Barre,  which 
was  located  on  the  site  of  the  present  L.  &  W.  B.  Coal 
Company's  office  building  on  River  Street.  A  mulatto 
waiter  there  was  chased  into  the  river  by  some  slave 
hunters  and  fired  upon  with  revolvers  and  badly  wounded. 
He  made  his  escape,  however,  and  was  later  found  hid- 
den in  the  weeds  along  the  shore  and  cared  for.  His 
would-be  captors  having  announced  that  "a  dead  nigger" 
would  be  of  no  use  to  them.  The  brutal  enforcement  of 
that  iniquitous  law  was  one  of  the  primary  causes  which 
led  up  to  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  yet  there  are 
people  who  place  the  responsibility  for  that  war  upon  the 
Abolitionists. 

Soon  after  the  time  of  these  occurrences  there  came 
from  the  press  that  historic  novel  of  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  It  created  a  most  pro- 
found sensation  at  the  time  and  the  story  is  familiar  to 
nearly  everybody  throughout  the  North  to-day.  I  have 
in  my  possession  a  copy  of  one  of  the  first  of  the  many 
thousand  editions  of  that  famous  novel,  which  I  loved 
to  hear  my  grandfather  read  as  we  all  sat  around  his 
fireside  on  winter  evenings. 


Chapter  IX. 

Reverie — Wild  Pigeons — Swimming — Rafting — A  Disappointing 
Experience — Traveling  Inconveniences — Flood  of  1852  and 
the  Resulting  Hardships — Flood  of  1865 — Incidents  of  the 
Flood — Early  Military  Organizations — The  Shawnee  Rang- 
ers— General  Trainings — Martial  Music — Black  Jack — Later 
Military  Companies — Top  Heaviness  of  the  Military  Estab- 
lishment. 

THE  sensations  of  a  drowning  person,  it  is  said  by 
those  who  have  been  resuscitated  after  having 
nearly  undergone  that  fate,  are  that  the  events  and  scenes 
of  their  whole  lives — like  a  panorama — are  flashed  be- 
fore their  mind's  eye  in  a  moment,  and  the  forgotten 
memories  and  most  trifling  incidents  of  the  past  are 
vividly  brought  into  view. 

It  is  a  sensation  something  like  that  which  I  experi- 
ence as  I  attempt  to  locate  the  almost  obliterated  land- 
marks of  near  a  century  ago;  as  the  obscure  evidence  of 
their  former  existence  brings  them  Into  view,  old  scenes 
and  long-forgotten  incidents  connected  therewith  are 
vividly  recalled  and  flash  through  the  mind  with  light- 
ning rapidity,  and  in  the  effort  to  describe  them  I  am  at 
a  loss  how  or  where  to  begin.  For  instance,  here  stands 
an  old  tree  that  appears  about  the  same  as  I  remember 
it  when  a  boy.  It  must  be  over  a  hundred  years  old; 
what  precious  memories  it  recalls. 

"Kind  friends  are  gone  but  the  old  tree  stands, 
Unharmed  by  the  warring  blasts." 

Over  there  by  the  roadside  stands  the  relics  of  an- 
other old  veteran  of  the  forest,  from  whose  decaying 
branches  I  fired  at  a  red  squirrel  with  an  old  horse  pistol 
from  which  part  of  the  stock  blew  off  with  the  explosion, 
and  I  have  wondered  whether  the  squirrel  or  I  was  the 
worse  scared.     On  yonder  ledge  I  have  sat,  and  watched 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  63 

with  admiration — where  now  are  only  to  be  seen  un- 
sightly piles  of  culm — the  shadows  of  the  clouds  as  they 
passed  over  the  waving  fields  of  grain  and  meadow  on 
the  Shawnee  Flats,  presenting  a  scene  of  beauty  far  sur- 
passing the  painter's  art,  and,  in  imagination,  I  can  see 
the  crows  as  they  came,  flying  singly,  or  in  pairs  or  flocks 
to  their  far  away  mountain  homes.  In  yonder  field,  now 
covered  with  dwelling  houses,  is  where  we  used  to  coast 
on  the  crusted  snow  on  moonlight  nights,  on  sleds  made 
up  of  barrel  staves  which  flew  almost  with  the  speed  of 
the  wind.  On  the  brow  ot  yonder  hill  I  have  stood  with 
gun  in  hand,  patiently  waiting  and  hoping  for  a  chance 
to  shoot  at  the  wild  pigeons  as  they  passed  over,  in 
flocks  so  dense  as  almost  to  obscure  the  light  of  the  sun, 
but  so  high  up  that  a  Krag  Jorgenson  rifle  could  be 
scarcely  able  to  reach  them;  and  there,  way  down  in  that 
field  yonder  near  the  river,  where  I  was  sent  to  work, 
some  idle  boys  would  pass  and  holding  up  two  fingers — 
an  inviting  sign  to  go  swimming — was  sufiicient  induce- 
ment to  while  the  happy  hours  away  In  the  comfortable 
waters  at  the  mouth  of  Wadham's  Creek,  while  my  in- 
dulgent father — until,  in  the  interest  of  my  health  Fuller 
Reynolds  advised  him  otherwise — was  fondly  indulging 
the  ridiculous  belief  that  I  was  industriously  hoeing  corn. 

Thus  do  "fond  memories  bring  the  light  of  other  days 
around  me,"  and  the  happy  days  of  boyhood  are  again 
lived  over;  but,  like  a  tale  that  is  told,  naught  remains 
but  memories  which  will  doubtless  be  of  little  Interest 
here,  and  as  garrulousness  is  said  to  be  a  characteristic 
of  old  people,  that  must  be  my  excuse  for  the  telling,  if 
one  is  needed. 

In  the  days  of  early  spring  for  many  years  it  was  a 
common  sight  to  see  the  river  filled  with  rafts  of  lumber, 
and  arks  loaded  with  potatoes,  or  other  articles  of  pro- 


64  Reminiscences   of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

duce  coming  from  the  headwaters  of  the  river  in  New 
York  State,  pass  by  on  the  annual  spring  freshet.  For 
days  at  a  time  these  would  pass  almost  continuously  by 
hundreds.  They  would  go  through  the  chute  by  the  side 
of  the  Nanticoke  Dam  and  proceed  on  down  to  various 
points  along  the  river  from  whence  their  crews — as 
often  did  canal  boatmen — would  return  on  foot  to  their 
homes. 

I  had  long  had  a  very  ardent  desire  to  have  a  ride  on 
one  of  those  lumber  rafts,  with  their  cosy  looking  little 
cabins  in  the  centre,  so  one  day  I  procured  a  skiff,  and 
with  a  great  deal  of  laborious  effort  rowed  up  stream 
about  a  mile,  when  I  struck  out  to  intercept  one  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  fondly  expecting  to  enjoy  a  long  and 
very  pleasant  ride,  but  alas !  my  painful  exertions  had 
strangely  enough  caused  me  to  overlook  the  wonderful 
rapidity  of  the  current,  and  as  soon  as  I  reached  the  cov- 
eted goal  I  looked  around  and  to  my  amazement  saw  that 
I  was  far  below  my  starting  point.  Without  delay  I 
pulled  for  shore  and  reached  home  with  my  hands  badly 
blistered  and  a  sadder  and  much  wiser  boy,  and  with  the 
desire  for  rafting  entirely  gone. 

There  being  no  railroad  conveniences,  or  other  con- 
venient and  expeditious  means  of  travel  in  those  days, 
pedestrian  methods  were  quite  commonly  resorted  to,  and 
I  have  myself  seen  men  with  carpet  bag  in  hand  traveling 
to  Bloomsburg  and  Danville  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
business  pursuits,  and — I  am  almost  afraid  to  tell  it — 
sixty  miles  a  day  was  not  considered  an  extraordinary 
or  unusual  distance  for  a  day's  journey  on  foot. 

These  annual  freshets,  while  they  were  usually  antici- 
pated or  expected,  were  often  the  cause  of  considerable 
trouble  and  expense  in  the  destruction  of  fences,  and  in 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  65 

the   removal   of   driftwood   and   other   debris   after   the 
waters  had  subsided. 

In  the  year  1852  I  think  it  was,  there  came  a  rather 
unusual  and  unexpected  flood  in  July,  which  caused  much 
loss  and  damage  and  subsequent  distress.  Considerable 
of  the  grain  on  the  flats  had  been  cut  and  stood  in  shocks 
in  the  fields.  The  farmers  worked  at  night  with  their 
teams  in  efforts  to  save  their  crops,  but  the  river  rose  so 
rapidly  that  very  little  in  that  direction  could  be  accom- 
plished, and  what  was  saved  was  covered  with  mud  and 
for  a  year  afterwards  gritty  wheat  flour  was  much  in  evi- 
dence, the  only  alternative  being  bread  made  from  rye 
which  was  mostly  grown  on  the  uplands,  or  Johnny  cakes, 
conditions,  which  to  the  fastidious  palates  of  to-day  would 
doubtless  seem  more  appalling  than  the  horrors  of  the 
present  European  war.  The  poor  cattle  and  horses  were 
probably  the  worst  sufferers,  for  neither  hay  or  grain 
could  be  handled  without  raising  a  smothering  cloud  of 
dust;  but  in  the  case  of  both  man  and  beast,  it  was  simply 
a  question  of  eat  or  starve. 

The  most  appalling  flood,  however,  occurred  on  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  March  17th  and  i8th,  1865.  The  weather 
was  clear  and  pleasant  and  the  ice  had  all  passed  out  of 
the  river,  and  people  were  congratulating  themselves  that 
all  danger  from  floods  had  passed.  However,  there  had 
sprung  up  a  warm  south  wind  which  melted  the  heavy' 
snows  on  the  mountains  and  along  the  headwater  sheds 
of  the  river  and  brought  the  waters  down  with  a  rush. 
On  the  17th  there  was  a  township  election  being  held  in 
the  upper  schoolroom  of  the  Academy  and  in  the  after- 
noon the  tardy  voters  from  the  upper  end  were  obliged 
to  make  use  of  the  fence  between  Mr.  Gaylord's  resi- 
dence and  the  Wadhams'  residence  in  order  to  reach  the 
polling  place.     Late  in  the  afternoon  I  rowed  a  boat  up 


66  Reminiscences   of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

to  the  door  of  the  schoolroom  and  took  the  election  board 
to  dry  land.  The  water  rose  to  cover  the  tops  of  the 
counters  in  Wadhams'  store.  Manny  Wharram  had 
hastily  built  some  boats  for  service  on  the  occasion,  and 
on  the  1 8th  I  rowed  one  of  these  into  the  front  door  en- 
trance of  Mr.  Wadhams'  residence  and  took  on  board 
his  family,  they  stepping  into  the  boat  from  the  second 
or  third  step  from  the  bottom  of  the  hall  stairway.  The 
wind  was  blowing  almost  a  gale  and  the  boat  was  un- 
wieldy. We  sailed  over  the  top  of  the  garden  fence.  I 
lost  my  cap  in  the  perilous  voyage  but  managed  to  land 
the  cargo  safely  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  somewhere  near 
the  upper  end  of  Gaylord  Avenue.  Later  I  removed 
the  family  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Eckman  from  the  old  Methodist 
parsonage  to  a  place  of  safety.  In  passing  one  of  their 
children  to  me  in  the  boat,  before  I  could  get  a  secure 
hold  the  boat  gave  a  lurch  and  the  kid  dropped  into  the 
water.  That  same  kid  is  now,  I  believe,  or  was,  the 
pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  churches  in  New  York  City. 
If  perchance  he  should  ever  read  these  lines  I  wonder  if 
he  can  remember  the  incident  of  his  immersion. 

While  there  was  much  damage  and  suffering  caused 
by  this  flood  to  many  of  the  people  of  Plymouth,  yet  there 
were  also  many  comical  and  laughable  incidents  connected 
with  it.  Nearly  everybody  appeared  to  take  the  situation 
philosophically  and  in  good  nature,  and  in  fact,  many 
seemed  rather  to  enjoy  the  unusual  novelty  and  excite- 
ment incident  thereto.  In  the  upper  end  of  town  it 
seemed  as  though  nearly  all  of  the  outhouses  of  the  neigh- 
borhood had  a  penchant  for  eddying  in  or  near  the  main 
street,  and  that  ever  jovial  and  irrepressible  Tom  Dod- 
son,  having  marooned  a  keg  of  liquor,  he  established  a 
free  bar  in  one  of  them,  and  it  was  said  that  nearly  every- 
body in  the  neighborhood  got  drunk. 


Reminiscences   of  Plymouth,   Pa.  67 

The  earliest,  and  in  fact  the  only  remembrance  I  have 
of  any  military  organizations  in  Plymouth,  and  that  is 
very  indistinct,  is  that  of  the  "Shawnee  Greens,"  although 
there  was  some  kind  of  a  military  system  in  vogue  in  the 
State  in  early  days  whereby  the  military  subjects  were 
required  to  arm  and  equip  themselves.  I  remember  of 
hearing  my  father  speak  of  being  required,  in  obedi- 
ence to  orders  of  the  Brigade  Inspector,  to  report  some- 
where for  muster,  when  the  men  would  appear  armed 
with  sticks  or  cornstalks  for  guns.  Where  or  when  these 
inspections  were  held  I  am  not  aware,  nor  do  I  recollect 
having  ever  seen  any  military  drills  or  parades  in  Ply- 
mouth. 

The  "Shawnee  Greens,"  so  named  from  the  color  of 
the  gorgeous  uniforms  they  wore,  was  organized  by 
Francis  J.  Smith  probably  about  the  year  1842  or  1843. 
The  officers  were  Francis  J.  Smith,  captain,  and  Fuller 
Reynolds  and  Draper  Smith,  lieutenants.  Their  green 
uniforms  consisted  of  frock-tailed  coats  with  a  profusion 
of  round  brass  bell  buttons,  tasseled  epaulettes  and  hel- 
mets with  gorgeous  plumes  which  might  have  excited  the 
envy  of  Henry  of  Navarre, 

I  don't  think  this  formidable  arm  of  national  defense 
was  very  large,  or  that  it  survived  very  long,  for  I  re- 
member when  about  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  while 
living  in  Kingston,  where  Captain  Smith  also  at  that  time 
lived  in  the  old  stone  house  on  the  corner,  that  we  boys 
got  access  to  a  room  where  the  uniforms  were  stored, 
and  helped  ourselves  to  brass  buttons  and  gilt  trimmings. 

I  have  often  heard  of  general  training  days  which 
I  think  occurred  in  the  spring  months,  and  an  important 
feature  of  which  was  ginger  cakes  and  cider,  I  think 
these  military  displays  generally  took  place  either  at 
Kingston  or  Wilkes-Barre.     The  only  ones  which  I  can 


68  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa. 

recall  were  at  Kingston  when  uniformed  troops  from 
WIlkes-Barre  paraded  and  I  think  they  wore  white 
trousers  which  were  held  down  with  leather  straps  under 
the  boots.  These  all  made  an  appearance  which  to  the 
juvenile  mind  particularly  was  very  formidable  and  awe- 
insplrlng. 

On  these,  as  on  all  similar  occasions,  perhaps  the 
most  attractive  feature  of  the  display  was  the  music.  For 
martial  music  I  don't  believe  there  ever  was  or  probably 
can  be,  when  properly  executed,  anything  more  inspiring 
or  calculated  to  arouse  the  highest  pitch  of  patriotic 
ardor,  than  the  fife  and  drums.  In  this  particular  on  all 
military  or  civic  occasions,  "Shawnee  against  the  world," 
Plymouth  was  without  a  peer.  There  was  Henderson 
Egbertson,  with  his  tenor  drum;  his  brother  Jim,  famil- 
iarly known  as  "Bucksy,"  with  the  bass  drum,  and  Black 
Jack,  with  the  fife,  and  whenever  they  paraded,  as  they 
sometimes  did  through  the  main  street  of  an  evening, 
they  always  attracted  an  audience. 

Black  Jack  was  one  of  the  conspicuous  characters  of 
Plymouth.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  could  play  the  fife 
on  a  march  from  Plymouth  to  WIlkes-Barre  without 
cessation.  He  used  to  work  for  my  grandfather  and  on 
one  occasion  I  had  it  all  planned  to  accompany  him  on 
a  sled  load  of  grain  to  WIlkes-Barre.  At  the  opportune 
moment,  however,  my  grandmother  despatched  me  on 
some  brief  errand  and  when  I  got  back  Jack  was  gone. 
I  felt  very  much  aggrieved  over  the  shabby  trick  that  had 
been  played  upon  me,  but  it  was  doubtless  fortunate,  for 
when  Jack  came  home  his  condition  was  not  such  as 
would  have  made  his  company  very  desirable.  One 
morning  early  he  came  to  our  house  and  told  my  mother 
that  he  was  going  away,  and  gave  her  his  fife  for  me  to 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  69 

keep  until  his  return,  and  I  have  poor  Jack's  fife  in  my 
possession  yet. 

All  of  the  colored  people  in  Plymouth  that  I  ever 
knew  had  the  prefix  "black"  attached  to  their  given 
names.  Black  John  and  Black  Anthony  I  have  already 
referred  to,  and  there  was  a  servant  of  Mrs.  Chauncey 
Reynolds  who  was  known  as  Black  Ann.  I  never  heard 
mentioned  any  surnames  of  these  persons  if  they  had  any. 

Concerning  later  military  organizations  here,  about 
the  time  of  the  close  of  the  war,  or  shortly  after  the 
military  spirit,  particularly  among  the  younger  generation 
began  to  manifest  itself  and  many  military  organizations 
sprang  up  throughout  the  State.  Plymouth  at  one  time 
boasted  of  three  infantry  companies  captained  respec- 
tively by  A.  F.  Levi,  Wm.  W.  Woodword  and  Martin 
Carey.  The  militia  laws  of  the  State,  however,  being  so 
crude  and  unsatisfactory,  and  no  adequate  or  material 
financial  support  being  provided,  these  organizations  did 
not  long  survive.  One,  and  perhaps  the  most  formidable 
feature  of  the  military  arm  of  the  State  government  at 
that  time  was  the  multitudinous  array  of  officers  con- 
nected with  it.  At  one  time  it  is  said  that  there  were  in 
command  of  some  three  hundred  military  companies  in 
the  State,  no  less  than  twenty-one  major  generals,  with 
perhaps  near  that  number  of  brigadier  generals,  each 
with  a  large  retinue  of  colonels  and  majors  as  staff  offi- 
cers, which  in  the  aggregate  nearly  equalled  the  number 
of  privates. 

About  1879  the  military  establishment  was  thor- 
oughly reorganized,  resulting  in  its  present  superior  state 
of  efficiency. 


Chapter  X. 

Early  Methods  of  Traveling — Weaver's  Stage  Line — Steamboats 
— The  Little  Jim — Transferring  Canal  Boats — Shows  and 
Circuses — Burial  Grounds  and  Cemeteries — Early  Medical 
Methods — Doctors — Bogus  Diplomas. 

"|\/f  ENTION  has  heretofore  been  made  of  the  early 
methods  or  means  of  traveling  from  place  to 
place.  There  being  no  public  means  of  traveling,  the 
people  as  a  rule  having  employment  enough  at  home  to 
engage  their  time  and  attention,  unless  called  away  on 
business  or  allured  by  some  unusual  attraction  in  Wilkes- 
Barre,  generally  remained  at  home,  and  those  who  were 
thus  called  away,  if  not  possessed  of  horses  and  convey- 
ances, took  the  only  safe  and  independent  course,  of  going 
on  foot.  The  city  of  Scranton  was  then  unborn  and  Pitts- 
ton,  with  little  or  no  inducements  to  offer,  was  nearly  as 
far  distant  as  is  Philadelphia  to-day,  so  that  about  the 
only  easy  accessible  points  of  attraction  were  Kingston 
and  the  Borough  of  Wilkes-Barre.  The  route  there  was 
through  the  Narrows  and  over  Ross  Hill.  Many  of 
those  with  teams  would  tie  their  horses  to  the  fence,  or 
to  the  trees  in  the  grove  near  the  entrance  to  the  bridge 
and  walk  across  to  save  bridge  toll  which  was  an  item  of 
expense  worthy  of  consideration  in  those  days. 

On  the  lower  side  of  the  road,  near  the  entrance  to 
the  old  covered  bridge,  in  an  old  framehouse,  a  man 
named  Gunton  did  quite  a  thriving  business  selling 
melons  and  oysters  in  season,  the  latter  in  small  kegs  of 
one  or  two  quarts  size.  The  first  attempt  towards  estab- 
lishing a  means  of  public  conveyance  was  sometime  in 
the  early  50's  when  Charley  Weaver  established  a  stage 
line  from  Plymouth  to  Wilkes-Barre.  His  two-horse 
coach  would  start  from  Lance's  barn  at  the  lower  end  of 
town  and  make  two  round  trips  daily.     The  fare  for  the 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  71 

round  trip  was  fifty  cents.  The  patronage,  however,  was 
not  sufficient  to  insure  success  and  the  project  was  soon 
abandoned. 

After  the  L.  &  B.  Railroad  got  in  operation  the  fare 
to  Kingston  was  fifteen  cents,  and  across  the  Hats  to 
Wilkes-Barre,  on  the  horse  cars,  ten  cents.  Several  un- 
successful attempts  had  been  made  at  different  times  to 
navigate  the  river  from  Tunkhannock  to  Wilkes-Barre, 
but  only  during  high  water  stages  could  a  boat  get 
through.  I  think  a  Captain  Converse  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  those  attempts.  When  Hendrick  B.  Wright 
was  in  Congress  he  obtained  an  appropriation  to  dredge 
the  channel  at  Fish  Island  near  Wilkes-Barre,  sufficient 
to  permit  a  boat  to  pass  through.  The  river  from  that 
point  to  Nanticoke  being  navigable  at  low  water,  and  he 
with  others  formed  a  company  and  put  on  a  stern-wheel 
steamboat  bearing  his  name  to  ply  between  Wilkes-Barre 
and  Nanticoke.  The  boat  made  four  daily  trips  between 
the  two  points  and  proved  to  be  much  of  a  convenience  to 
the  traveling  public.  This  enterprise  proving  so  success- 
ful, Fremont  Jenkins  put  on  a  small  boat  named  the 
"Magnolia,"  and  afterwards  added  the  "Plymouth," 
both  side-wheelers,  and  Theodore  Renshaw  put  on  the 
"Mayflower,"  and  afterwards  the  larger  "Lyman  Tru- 
man," and  Joel  Walp  had  a  stern-wheeler,  the  "Wilkes- 
Barre.." 

The  intense  rivalry  between  these  steamship  lines  in 
connection  with  the  railroad  soon  made  the  business  un- 
profitable; and  with  the  gradual  filling  up  of  the  river 
channel  with  culm  and  the  low  water,  caused  by  the  dis- 
use of  the  Nanticoke  dam,  made  navigation  impossible. 

The  Hendrick  B.  Wright  was  wrecked  by  the  ice,  as 
was  also  the  Wilkes-Barre;  the  Truman  blew  up  and  the 
Mayflower  was  taken  over  to  Harvey's  lake. 


72  Reminiscences    of   Plymoulh,    Pa. 

Aside  from  a  small  pleasure  yacht,  the  "Wingohock- 
ing,"  brought  here  from  Philadelphia  by  James  Martin, 
the  first  regular  steamboat  service  on  the  river  here  was 
a  tug  boat  called  the  "Little  Jim,"  rechristened  the  "Wil- 
liam Patten,"  and  brought  here  by  that  gentleman  for  the 
purpose  of  towing  canal  boats  to  and  from  his  coal  chutes 
to  the  canal  entrance  at  Nanticoke.  I  believe  that  George 
P.  Richards  was  the  first  engineer  on  that  boat. 

Before  the  advent  of  that  tug,  the  custom  had  been 
for  boats  with  their  teams  to  cross  the  river  by  means 
of  a  rope  ferry  below  Harvey's  wharf,  and  then  to  tow 
thern  up  the  "Pool"  to  near  the  Outlet  lock  above  Butz- 
bach's,  from  which  point  they  would  be  "poled"  to  and 
from  their  respective  wharves. 

Boats  destined  to  points  further  up  the  canal,  before 
approaching  this  Outlet  lock  would  through  their  boat 
horns  sound  notice  of  their  approach,  in  time  for  the 
"tender"  to  prepare  the  lock  for  their  entrance  into  the 
canal.  Occasionally  some  expert  bugler  would  perform 
that  duty  and  often  on  a  calm  summer  evening  their 
pleasing  melodies  could  be  distinctly  heard  in  town. 

Besides  the  annual  elections,  the  events  of  most  ab- 
sorbing interest,  particularly  to  the  rising  generation, 
was  the  periodical  visits  of  Van  Amburg's  Menagerie, 
and  Dan  Rice's  and  Forepaugh's  Circuses  to  Wilkes- 
Barre.  The  former  was  the  only  one  of  these  exhibitions 
I  was  ever  permitted  to  attend.  The  circuses,  aside  from 
the  financial  aspects  of  the  case,  were  considered  entirely 
unnecessary  and  of  a  demoralizing  nature,  and  in  conse- 
quence my  only  recourse  was  to  view  with  wistful  gaze 
the  gorgeous  pictures  of  the  forty-horse  chariots  and  the 
wonderful  acrobatic  feats  as  displayed  on  the  side  of  a 
barn. 

On  all  such  occasions  it  was  most  aggravating  to  see 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  73 

the  long  processions  of  male  and  temale,  adult  and  juve- 
nile pedestrians  wending  their  way  to  Wilkes-Barre  in 
the  early  morning,  equipped  with  their  day's  provisions 
and  prepared  to  spend  the  day  in  undisturbed  enjoyment 
of  these  to  me  forbidden  pleasures. 

There  was,  however,  one  consoling  feature  which 
tended  somewhat  to  mitigate  the  pangs  of  disappoint- 
ment; "Milly"  would  always  call  us  up  before  daylight 
in  time  to  see  the  elephants  and  camels  and  ponies  and 
wagons  with  their  sleepy  attendants  pass  by  on  their  way 
to  Berwick.  I  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age  before  I 
ever  attended  a  circus  and  then  I  ran  away  from  school 
at  Wyoming  and  walked  over  to  Pittston  at  night  to  see  it. 

Passing  now  from  the  gay  and  frivolous,  to  the  more 
serious  and  grave  concerns,  I  have  already  described  the 
private  burying  ground  of  the  Hodge  family  in  the 
French  orchard.  I  have  heard  intimated  that  there  was 
in  very  early  days  another  graveyard  somewhere  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  flat  road  near  the  "swing  gate,"  but  of  this 
I  have  no  definite  knowledge,  nor  is  there  any  evidence 
of  one  having  been  there.  The  one  on  the  corner  of 
Shawnee  Avenue  and  Reynolds  Street,  known  as  the 
Reynolds  graveyard,  was  established  in  1828.  In  the 
records  in  Luzerne  County  Courthouse  is  filed  a  lease 
from  John  Turner  and  Benjamin  Reynolds,  to  Calvin 
Wadhams,  Joseph  Wright,  Jamison  Harvey,  Noah  Wad- 
hams,  Freeman  Thomas,  Samuel  Wadhams,  George  S. 
Clark,  Henry  Gabriel,  Joshua  Pugh,  and  said  Turner  in 
common  with  the  others,  for  land  for  900  years,  "for  the 
purpose  of  a  private  burying  ground."  This  lease  is 
dated  November  20,  1828,  was  acknowledged  May  14, 
1845,  ^"d  recorded  August  6,  185  i,  and  on  November 
20,  1828,  Benjamin  Reynolds  and  John  Turner  acknowl- 
edges receipt  from  the  lessees  of  $10,  "in  full  in  advance 


74  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

for  all  rents  for  term  of  900  years."  Most  all  of  the 
bodies  have  been  removed  from  this  burying  ground  to 
other  places;  but  few  remaining,  of  old  residents,  their 
graves  uncared  for  and  perhaps  long  ago  forgotten,  and 
the  ground  is  overgrown  with  weeds  and  briars,  and 
made  a  depository  for  tin  cans  and  other  rubbish  by  the 
unsympathetic  occupants  of  the  adjoining  lots.  There  is 
another  private  burying  ground  on  "Turkey  Hill,"  known 
as  the  Davenport  burying  ground  which  has  I  believe — 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Shawnee  Cemetery  further 
up  the  hill — been  abandoned  as  a  burying  ground. 

Until  within  recent  years  many  interments  of  Ply- 
mouth residents  were  made  in  the  cemeteries  at  Forty- 
Fort  or  Wilkes-Barre.  The  HoUenback  Cemtery  at 
Wilkes-Barre  was  opened  in  1856  and  my  sister  Cornelia 
was  the  second  person  to  be  buried  there  in  June  of  that 
year. 

Perhaps  the  earliest  public  burying  ground  in  Ply- 
mouth is  the  old  Shupp  graveyard  near  the  L.  &  B.  junc- 
tion. I  have  no  knowledge  of  when  or  by  whom  this 
graveyard  was  established.  It  formerly  comprised  sev- 
eral acres  of  ground  but  all  the  larger  part  of  this  has 
been  covered  over  by  the  D.  &  H.  Co.  with  huge  piles 
of  refuse  from  their  adjacent  mines,  and  only  a  garden 
patch  in  size  remains,  in  a  very  dilapidated  state,  but  is 
still  being  used  by  the  public,  where  interments  are  yet 
being  made  three  and  four  deep. 

Perhaps  at  no  distant  day  the  general  public  will  be- 
come sufficiently  enlightened  to  substitute  the  more 
humane  and  sanitary  method  of  cremation  for  the  repul- 
sive and  revolting  one  of  sepulture;  and  why,  from  an 
economic  point  of  view,  should  the  dead  be  permitted  to 
encumber  the  ground  and  be  in  the  way  of  the  living? 

From  graveyards  to  doctors,  or  vice  versa,  is  a  very 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  75 

easy  and  seemingly  logical  transition  of  topics  of  discus- 
sion; while  we  all  have  faults,  and  are  prone  to  mistakes, 
— the  easiest  of  all  human  accomplishments, — unfortu- 
nately perhaps  we  can't  always  hide,  or  bury  them  in 
everlasting  oblivion.  In  the  early  days  when  doctors 
were  few  and  far  between,  and  not  easily  accessible,  the 
mothers,  or  some  neighborly  old  grandmothers  were  the 
family  physicians;  and  not  until  the  patient  got  beyond 
their  skill  was  the  doctor  summoned,  when,  after  inspect- 
ing the  tongue  and  examining  the  pulse,  he  would  look 
wise,  and  if  he  didn't  resort  to  blood  letting  would  al- 
most invariably  prescribe  the  proverbial  dose  of  Rhubarb, 
or  Calomel  and  Castor  Oil;  all  very  excellent  remedies, 
and  well  calculated  to  arouse  a  very  decisive,  if  not  en- 
thusiastic hygienic  interest;  but  the  vilest  prescription  I 
think,  and  one  on  which  I  always  drew  the  line,  was  sul- 
phur mixed  in  molasses;  that  dose  is  the  climax  of  nastl- 
ness.  The  prevalent  diseases  or  ailments  of  today,  were 
diagnosed  under  different  names,  for  example,  diphtheria 
was  probably  an  aggravated  sore  throat,  pneumonia,  in- 
flammation of  the  lungs,  and  appendicitis,  either  inflam- 
mation of  the  bowels  or  dry  belly  ache. 

In  nearly  every  house  might  be  seen  hanging  from  the 
rafters  in  the  attic,  or  strung  along  the  beams,  a  well  ar- 
ranged assortment  of  catnip,  sweet  fern,  sage  and  various 
other  "yarbs"  possessing  sedative,  laxative  and  purga- 
tive, or  other  medicinal  virtues,  while  a  bag  of  roots  of 
varied  species  was  usually  near  at  hand,  or  in  case  of 
emergency  some  old  Nimrod  of  Knowledge  and  experi- 
ence would  be  despatched  to  the  woods  or  fields  in  search 
of  squaw  roots,  golden-thread,  burdock  or  other  roots 
necessary  to  the  requirements  of  the  domestic  pharmacy, 
and  the  compounding  or  manufacture  of  all  which  into 
teas,  salves  or  poultices  was  by  no  means  an  occult  art. 


76  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

I  have  often  heard  mention  made  of  a  Doctor  Mont- 
ross  of  early  days,  who  lived  somewhere  back  of  the 
mountain  who  was  regarded  somewhat  as  a  medical  pro- 
digy, but  my  earliest  recollection  of  the  fraternity  was  a 
Doctor  Boyd  of  Wilkes-Barre,  who  perhaps,  at  that 
period  was  more  instrumental  in  increasing  the  census 
statistics  of  the  town  than  any  one  other.  Then  there 
was  a  doctor  John  Smith  also  of  Wilkes-Barre,  an  early 
practitioner  here  who  always  sat  cross  legged  in  his  lumb- 
ering top  buggy  which  was  drawn  by  a  horse  with  a 
maximum  speed  of  about  one  mile  in  seventy-five  minutes, 
but  who  always  brought  sunshine  and  hope  in  his  visits. 
Doctor  Ebenezer  Chamberlin  was  one  of,  if  not  the  old- 
est early  resident  physicians.  He  was  a  very  genial  and 
kind  hearted  man,  known  to  almost  everybody  from  his 
pointed  and  witty  sayings,  and  characteristics.  He  lived 
here  for  many  years  and  had  a  large  practice.  He  also 
served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  a  number  of  years. 
Doctor  J.  E.  Bulkley  and  Doctor  Brisbane  both  of 
Wilkes-Barre  were  frequent  visitors.  In  later  years  there 
were  as  resident  physicians  Doctors  Bixby,  Rickard,  M. 
G.  Whitney,  Wilson,  and  McKee, — father  and  son, — all 
of  whom  were  respected  physicians  and  each  enjoying  a 
large  practice. 

In  the  late  70's  quite  a  commotion  was  stirred  up 
amongst  the  medical  fraternity  throughout  the  State,  by 
a  report  to  the  authorities  from  our  Minister  in  Ger- 
many, the  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White,  to  the  effect  that  a 
man  named  Buchanan  in  Philadelphia  was  engaged  in 
the  business  of  selling  doctors'  diplomas  purporting  to 
issue  from  an  institution  called  the  "Philadelphia  Uni- 
versity," which  being  confounded  there  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  an  institution  of  learning,  of 
world  wide  reputation,  was  heaping  discredit  upon  that 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  77 

Institution.  An  investigation  resulted  and  legal  meas- 
ures adopted  which  had  the  effect  of  unearthing  many 
of  those  bogus  certificates  throughout  the  country,  much 
to  the  chagrin  and  discomfiture  of  the  possessors  thereof. 


Chapter  XL 

Early  Methods  of  Weighing — System  of  Barter — Reason  for 
Peculiarity  of  Prices  of  Commodities — Currency  Conditions 
— Spanish  Coins — Fips  and  Shillings — Counterfeit  Notes — 
Era  of  Shinplasters — Customs  of  Early  Merchants — Means 
of  Travel — Wholesale  Merchants — Arrival  of  Goods — 
Pedlars  and  Their  Wares. 

T  N  early  days  most  commodities  sold  by  weight,  were 
-■-  weighed  on  steelyards.  For  small  articles  or  quanti- 
ties these  were  weighed  by  holding  the  steelyard  with  the 
article  to  be  weighed  suspended  thereto,  with  one  hand, 
and  with  the  other,  adjusting  the  balance  upon  the  ex- 
tended steelyard  arm  which  Indicated  the  weight;  hence, 
in  the  records  of  sales  or  purchases  made,  It  Is  not  un- 
usual to  find  such  seemingly,  to  us,  odd  quantities  named 
as  for  example  6)4  pounds  of  coffee  or  103^^  pounds  of 
sugar.  It  used  to  be  said  of  one  very  early  merchant 
that  In  his  dealings  with  the  Indians,  his  hand  weighed 
one  pound  and  his  foot  two  pounds. 

Purchases  were  very  commonly  made  by  means  of 
barter,  or  exchange  of  commodities, — ready  money  was 
in  many  cases,  an  almost  unknown  quantity.  The  farm- 
ers banking  capital  and  facilities  was  his  grain,  hay,  pota- 
toes and  other  articles  of  produce,  with  occasionally 
some  portions  of  a  dressed  hog,  or  a  quarter  or  side  of 
beef  or  veal,  most  of  which  articles  were  always  very 
acceptable  In  payment  to  the  doctor,  the  shoemaker  or  the 
blacksmith,  while  the  housewife  sold  butter  and  eggs  or 


78  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

home  knit  woolen  mittens  and  stocking,  and  then,  as  most 
every  household  had  its  own  seamstress,  the  concomitant 
and  convenient  rag  bag,  with  "paper  rags"  worth  three 
cents  a  pound  at  any  of  the  stores,  was  a  small  but  valu- 
able aid  in  the  procuring  of  thread  and  other  such  neces- 
sary items. 

Another  one  of  the  peculiar  early  customs  unknown 
or  unpracticed  at  the  present  time,  although  a  popular 
one  as  late  as  the  time  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  was 
the  making  the  prices  to  be  charged  for  many  articles, 
or  commodities,  6%  cents,  or  12^  cents,  a  pound  or  a 
yard.  The  reason  for  such  common  use  of  the  fraction 
in  connection  with  the  sale  price  of  articles,  was  doubt- 
less owing  to  the  condition  and  value  of  the  currency  then 
in  general  circulation,  which  consisted  almost  entirely  of 
Spanish  silver  coins  and  State  bank  notes;  a  standard  of 
value  being,  generally,  a  "Spanish  Milled  Dollar." 

Hon.  John  Sherman,  former  Secretary  of  the  U.  S. 
Treasury,  in  his  memoirs  says,  that  "in  1793  foreign 
coins  were  a  legal  tender  for  circulation  in  this  country. 
Spanish  coins  found  great  favor — Spanish  dollars  though 
three  grains  heavier  than  ours,  were  readily  exchanged 
in  Mexico  and  the  West  Indies  for  our  bright  new  coins. 
This  led  to  an  exchange  of  our  dollars  for  the  Spanish 
ones  which  were  promptly  received  at  our  mint  at  a 
profit.  This  put  upon  the  government  the  expense  of 
making  coins  with  no  advantage.  This  was  free  coinage. 
In  1806  President  Jefferson  prohibited  the  coinage  of 
silver  dollars  and  when  S.  P.  Chase  became  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  in  1861,  there  were  probably  not  1,000 
silver  dollars  in  the  United  States." 

"By  the  Acts  of  Congress  of  1834  and  1837,  the 
ratio  of  coinage  was  made  16  to  i,  with  the  result  that 
gold  coins  were  largely  introduced  and  circulated,  but  as 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  79 

16  ounces  of  silver  was  worth  more  than  one  ounce  of 
gold,  the  silver  coins  disappeared  except  the  depreciated 
foreign  coins,  then  a  legal  tender." 

Those  Spanish  coins  were  nearly  all  worn  so  thin  and 
smooth  through  circulation  as  to  be  almost  undecipher- 
able in  appearance,  but  if  there  remained  resemblance  of 
any  of  the  original  earmarks  of  coinage  on  them  they 
would  pass  at  full  value  without  question.  The  smallest 
of  those  coins  was  counted  d.s  6%  cents  in  exchange, 
and  the  next  size  iiy^  cents  and  they  were  called 
respectively  six  pence  or  "fipenny  bits," — for  short 
"fips," — and  shillings,  or  "eleven  penny  bits."  A  bit  be- 
ing 123/2  cents  which  term  was  probably  of  Southern 
origin  where  it  was  commonly  made  use  of.  Most  all  of 
the  bank  notes  were  counterfeited,  and  nearly  every  mer- 
chant had  one  of  Thompson's  Monthly  Bank  Note  detec- 
tors, which  gave  a  minute  description  of  every  known 
counterfeit  bill,  and  which  he  would  always  consult  upon 
presentation  to  him  of  any  unfamiliar  note. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  even  this  debased 
silver  currency  entirely  disappeared  and  the  merchants 
and  business  men  were  put  to  great  straights,  before  the 
issue  of  fractional  currency  by  the  government,  to  make 
change  for  bank  notes  in  their  business  dealings.  This 
inconvenience  they  overcame  however,  by  many  of  them 
issuing  their  own  scrip,  or  "Shinplasters,"  in  denomina- 
tions of  five  cents  and  its  multiple  up  to  50  cents;  of 
course,  the  only  basis  of  value  to  this  scrip  was  the  repu- 
tation of  the  party  issuing  it.  Ev^en  brass  and  copper 
tokens  of  all  manner  of  devices  and  purporting  to  rep- 
resent cents  were  put  in  circulation  which  were  really  of 
not  as  much  value  as  a  button,  but  almost  anything  was 
accepted  in  change  without  a  murmur.  After  the  issue  of 
"greenbacks"  by  the  government,  it  was  nothing  unusual 


8o  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

when  making  change  of  fifty  cents,  to  cut  a  one  dollar 
note  in  half. 

Every  spring  and  fall,  before  canal  navigation  closed, 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  merchants  of  the  town  and  val- 
ley, to  go  to  Philadelphia  to  replenish  their  stocks  of 
goods.  Their  route  of  travel  would  be  by  stage  from 
Wilkes-Barre  to  Tamaqua ;  leaving  the  old  Phoenix  Hotel 
long  before  daylight,  they  would  take  breakfast  at  Drums 
on  the  mountain  and  arrive  about  noon  at  Tamaqua,  and 
from  there  take  the  train  to  Philadelphia.  In  later  years 
a  packet  boat  would  connect  at  Catawissa  with  the  Read- 
ing railroad.  They  usually  traveled  together  and  would 
put  up  in  the  city  at  the  Black  Bear  Hotel  on  Third 
Street,  the  White  Swan  on  Arch  Street,  or  the  Merchants, 
on  Fourth  Street,  the  principal  hotels,  and  would  make 
their  purchases  of  the  same  firms. 

The  names  of  those  wholesale  merchants  are  yet  very 
familiar.  There  was  James  Kent  Santee  &  Co.,  and 
Ludwig,  Kneedler  &  Co.,  dry  goods,  and  Eckel  &  Reigel, 
C.  C.  Sadler  provisions,  G.  S.  Gilbert  drugs,  Joel  J. 
Bailey  notions,  James  Shields  &  Co.,  hardware,  Godfrey 
Keepler,  a  jolly  Dutchman,  whom  I  later  knew  very  well, 
Frishmuth  &  Co.,  who  sold  the  white  papers  of  smoking 
tobacco  with  the  Indian  and  his  pipe  for  a  label,  and 
Mason,  whose  shoe  polish  bore  the  familiar  label  of  a 
colored  boy  shining  a  boot  which  reflected  an  angry 
rooster. 

Their  purchases  were  loaded  on  canal  boats  at  Peter 
Wright's  Son's  wharf,  and  their  arrival  at  Plymouth  a 
week  or  ten  days  perhaps  later,  was  always  an  event  of 
very  general  interest,  more  especially  to  the  women  of  the 
neighborhood,  most  of  whom  usually  had  given  some 
special  commission  to  the  storekeeper  to  execute.  Sup- 
plementing as  it  were  these  Philadelphia  excursions,  the 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  8i 

merchants  had  frequent  opportunities  of  replenishing 
their  stocks  of  small  wares,  particularly  of  candies,  no- 
tions, and  medicines,  from  traveling  peddlar  wagons 
which  habitually  passed  through  town.  The  medicine  men 
usually  drove  gaily  caparisoned  horses  hitched  to  gaudy 
wagons  and  distributed  almanacs  and  descriptive  circulars 
advertising  remedies  warranted  to  cure  all  ailments,  or 
selling  the  well  known  Ayers  Cherry  Pectoral,  Hines  Tar 
Syrup,  Swaynes  Ointment,  Indian  Vegetable  Pills,  or 
galvanic  ointment. 

The  first  introduction  here  of  kerosene  oil,  was  by 
one  of  those  wagons,  in  the  form  of  crude  oil  put  up  in 
small  phials  and  labeled  Petroleum  or  Rock  Oil,  a  sure 
cure  for  rheumatism. 


Chapter  XII. 

The  Past  and  the  Present,  Comparisons — The  "Appy  Og" — 
Mythical  Superior  Traits  of  Honesty  — Early  Habits  and 
Characteristics  of  People  —  Social  Courtesies  —  Sociability 
Among  Neighbors — Quilting  Parties — Visiting — Apple  Cuts 
and  Candy  Pulls — Deferences  to  Old  People — Incidents — 
The  400  Society — Town  Newspapers — Names  of  Business 
Men  and  Firms. 

IN  apparent  contravention  of  the  old  proverb  that  the 
world  grows  weaker  and  wiser,  in  comparisons  made 
between  the  present  and  the  past,  one  often  hears  lamen- 
tations by  old  people  like  those  made  by  the  Jews  in 
olden  times,  of  the  departed  glory  of  the  "good  old  days" 
of  yore,  when  everybody  was  honest  and  happy. 

There  is  not  much  doubt  I  think,  that  a  greater  and 
more  genuine  spirit  of  sociability  prevailed  among  our 
forebears  and  predecessors,  than  exists  in  communities 
today.     Evidence  of  this  may  still  be  seen  in  most  every 


82  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

isolated  country  village  or  community  which  is  cut  off 
from  railroad  and  other  civilizing  modern  conveniences 
and  luxuries.  A  natural  human  instinct  there  draws  the 
people  together,  "to  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious 
days;"  their  sympathies  and  their  interests  are  mutual; 
what  concerns  one,  is  of  more  or  less  interest  and  concern 
to  all  the  others;  whereas,  in  populous  centres,  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  wonderful  means  of  speedy  travel  and 
communication  with  the  outside  world,  the  people  are 
imbued  with  the  progressive  and  wholly  selfish  spirit  of 
the  age  which  is,  "every  fellow  for  himself;"  people 
come  and  people  go  unnoticed,  and  they  don't  really 
know  their  next  door  neighbors,  and  it  is  very  question- 
able whether  the  people  of  today  with  all  their  luxurious 
surroundings  are,  in  fact,  as  really  happy  and  contented, 
and  enjoy  life  as  did  those  of  a  century  ago  in  their 
homely  simplicity,  when  their  wants  and  desires  were 
governed  wholly  by  their  resources,  and  they  retired  to 
bed  and  peaceful  slumber  in  the  happy  assurance  that 
they  were  "cocks  upon  their  own  dung  hills." 

In  this  connection,  these  reflections  remind  me  of  the 
story  told  of  a  certain  business  man  of  foreign  extraction, 
who  eliminated  the  h's  in  his  conversations;  in  returning 
to  his  home  one  night  somewhat  obfusticated,  in  passing 
a  pen  in  which  lay  a  sleeping  hog,  on  viewing  which  he 
thus  soliloquized:  "Appy,  og,  appy  og,  no  notes  to  settle 
tomorrow,  nothing  to  worry  about." 

We  often  read,  and  hear,  much  laudation  concerning 
the  frugality,  purity,  and  honesty  of  our  early  predeces- 
sors. My  memory  extends  back  nearly  seventy  years,  and 
during  many  of  those  years  I  have  associated  with  and 
been  in  close  business  contact  with  many  kinds  and  con- 
ditions of  the  human  species,  and  from  my  readings  and 
personal  experiences,  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa.  83 

the  whole  human  family  are,  and  always  have  been,  in- 
fected with  the  same  kind  of  cussedness  from  the  days  of 
Abraham  and  Moses  down  to  the  present  day.  Mr. 
George  B.  Wendling,  in  his  recent  lecture  deliv^ered  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  was  correct  when  he  said,  "One  of  our 
delusions  is,  that  farmers  are  more  honest  than  other 
people,"  and  when  I  hear  of  one  of  those  ancient,  honest 
pioneers,  selling  his  unsuspecting  neighbor  "rotten  clover 
hay,"  and  remember  of  buying  from  a  "dear  friend,"  a 
barrel  of  rotten  apples  with  a  "strictly  handpicked"  cover- 
ing, or  a  crate  of  inferior  berries  nicely  concealed  under 
"choice"  varieties,  by  a  professional  Christian,  I  am  con- 
firmed in  my  belief,  in  at  least  that  portion  of  the  holy 
scripture  attributed  to  the  prophet  Micah,  that,  "they 
hunt  every  man  his  brother  with  a  net,"  and  the  really 
"good  man  is  perished  out  of  the  earth." 

In  corroboration  of  what  has  been  said  concerning 
the  social  habits  and  characteristics  of  the  early  inhabi- 
tants, little  acts  of  courtesy  among  neighbors  were  of 
frequent  occurrence,  in  marked  contrast  to  present  day 
methods.  If  a  man  had  a  building  to  erect,  after  the 
timbers  were  all  framed  and  prepared,  it  was  a  common 
custom  on  a  given  day,  for  the  neighbors  to  all  turn  out 
to  the  "raising;"  and  in  the  butchering  season,  it  was 
customary  to  always  remember  the  near  neighbors  with  a 
dainty  cut  from  the  slaughtered  animal. 

Frequently  the  women  of  the  neighborhood  would  as- 
semble to  participate  in  a  quilting  party,  an  event  of  so- 
cial importance.  Social  calls  were  quite  a  common  prac- 
tice on  the  part  of  both  men  and  women,  and  it  was  not 
unusual  for  the  women  folks,  unannounced,  to  start  out 
in  the  forenoon  with  their  "knitten,"  and  spend  the  day 
with  a  neighbor,  when,  after  the  usual  interesting  and 
edifying  subject  of  their  respective  distressful  sufferings 


84  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

from  "rheumatiz,"  disordered  "stomicks"  or  sore  feet, 
had  been  thoroughly  discussed  and  diagnosed,  probably 
the  abstruse  theological  doctrines  of  foreordination, 
transubstantiation,  or  infant  baptism  would  be  next  in 
order  and  consume  a  considerable  part  of  the  time. 

In  the  long  winter  evenings,  oftentimes  when  it  would 
be  necessary  on  a  dark  night,  to  grope  the  way  along  the 
fences  by  the  aid  of  a  perforated  tin  lantern  of  a  one 
lightning  bug  power  of  reflection,  to  get  out  of  the  mud, 
very  pleasant  visits  would  be  made  between  neighbors, 
when  a  basket  full  of  luscious  apples  and  a  pitcher  of 
cider  or,  perhaps  a  genuine,  warm  mince  pie,  would 
always  be  in  evidence. 

For  the  younger  generation,  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
"apple  cuts"  were  a  popular  recreation.  After  the  ap- 
ples had  been  peeled  and  cored,  they  were  strung  on  long 
strings,  and  it  was  not  unusual  to  see  them  thus  hanging 
in  graceful  festoons  to  dry,  from  the  floor  beams  in 
houses,  and  making  elegant  roosting  places  for  flies. 

For  the  juveniles,  molasses  "candy  pulls,"  with  the 
accompanying  games  of  "hunt  the  button,"  "choose  the 
one  that  you  love  best,"  and  similar  diversions  were 
much  enjoyed  by  the  blushing  lads  and  lassies. 

A  kind  of  reverent  deference  was  paid  to  the  elderly 
people,  as  manifested  in  the  affectionate  terms  used  in 
addressing,  or  referring  to  them.  For  example,  there 
was  Aunt  Liva  Davenport,  Aunt  Fanny  Turner,  and  Aunt 
Phoebe  Wadhams,  kind  hearted  old  ladies,  respected  by 
everybody;  and  among  the  men,  Uncle  Robert  Daven- 
port, of  whom  it  used  to  be  said,  that  in  a  discussion  in 
reference  to  winter  thaws,  he  asserted  there  was  always 
a  thaw  in  January  for  he  had  seen  hundreds  of  them. 
And  there  was  Uncle  "Benny"  Reynolds,  and  Uncle  In- 
gersol  Wadhams,   a  general  favorite,   and  of  whom  it 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  85 

was  said,  that,  being  annoyed  by  persons  coming  across 
the  river  to  steal  turnips  from  his  patch  on  the  flats,  he 
concealed  himself  in  the  weeds  with  a  shotgun  loaded 
with  beans,  and  when  one  of  the  depredators  stooped 
over  to  pull  turnips,  he  fired  at  his  anatomy  with  the  re- 
sult that  thereafter  he  was  left  in  undisputed  possession 
of  his  crop. 

In  discussions  among  the  women  folks,  in  speaking  of 
each  other,  it  seems  to  have  been  a  custom  among  them — 
perhaps  from  a  similar  custom  of  prefixing  the  word 
black,  to  the  given  names  of  colored  persons, — to  couple 
the  first  name  of  the  wife,  with  the  first  name  of  her  hus- 
band; for  example,  Mrs.  Jacob  Gould's  name  was  Han- 
nah, for  short  called  Hanner,  as  was  also  that  of  Mrs. 
John  Davenport,  Mrs.  Robert  Davenport's  name  was 
Phoebe,  and  Mrs.  Thomas  Pringle's  name  was  Betsy. 
This  select  coterie,  probably  in  fashionable  New  York 
City  parlance  might  be  called  the  400  Society  of  Ply- 
mouth.    These  names  were  rhymed  together,  thus : 

Hanner  Jake  and  Hanner  John, 
Phoebe  Bob  and  Betsy  Tom. 

Maybe,  like  Buttercups  babies,  I  have  got  these  genealo- 
gies mixed,  but  it  don't  affect  the  illustration. 

Plymouth,  as  a  newspaper  town,  does  not  for  some 
cause,  appear  to  have  been  a  success.  The  first  attempt 
in  publishing  a  newspaper  here  was  made  by  Asher  Gay- 
lord  some  time  during  the  middle  50's.  It  was  a  small 
folio,  I  think  called  the  Herald.  It  was  printed  on  coarse 
paper  that  was  manufactured  at  Berwick  by  Wm.  L. 
Lance  who  was  experimenting  there  in  the  manufacture 
of  paper  from  wood  pulp.  This  paper  which  was  con- 
sidered merely  a  joke,  only  made  two  issues. 

The  earliest  newspaper  to  be  established  in  Plymouth 
was  "The  Plymouth  Star,"  published  weekly  by  E.  D. 


86  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

Barthe.  It  was  established  some  time  during  the  6o's 
and  grew  into  a  large  circulation  which  continued  for  a 
number  of  years.  Ill  health  of  the  publisher  and  a  fall- 
ing off  of  patronage  finally  caused  its  demise. 

In  1869  a  weekly  paper  was  published  by  N.  B. 
Burtch,  called  the  Plymouth  Register,  but  it  was  not  of 
long  duration.  That  paper  I  think,  had  first  been  estab- 
lished as  a  temperance  organ  by  a  man  named  Gould.  It 
was  later  continued  under  the  name  of  "The  Index,"  by 
French  and  Levi, — primarily  as  an  advertising  medium — 
and  was  still  later,  continued  for  several  years  as  a 
weekly  by  Dr.  H.  D.  Bixby  and  his  brother,  and  was 
quite  a  lively  little  sheet. 

In  1 89 1,  the  Plymouth  Tribune  was  published  a 
short  time  by  W.  H.  Capwell,  who  was  succeeded  for  a 
few  years,  by  J.  S.  Sanders — or  possibly  Sanders  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Capwell.  However,  in  1896,  J.  W.  Louis  is- 
sued it  for  a  short  time  as  a  daily,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Plymouth  Board  of  Trade.  In  the  issue  of  The 
Plymouth  Star  of  Nov.  i,  1871,  appears  the  advertise- 
ments of  the  following  named  business  men  and  firms  in 
Plymouth  which  will  be  of  interest;  they  were:  Harvey 
Bros.  &  Kern,  and  D.  E.  Frantz,  planing  mill  and  lum- 
ber; C.  A.  Kuschke,  merchant  tailor;  C.  H.  Wilson,  H. 
D.  Bixby,  G.  W.  McKee,  A.  G.  Rickard,  physicians  and 
surgeons;  Prof.,  H.  Stadler,  music  teacher;  E.  Hair  (suc- 
cessor to  Samuel  Snyder),  and  Barber  and  Jenkins,  hard- 
ware; Dr.  F.  L.  DeGour,  dentist;  Thos.  Nesbitt,  attor- 
ney; D.  K.  Spry,  S.  W.  Frantz,  drugs;  E.  C.  Wadhams, 
Anthony  Duffy,  Wm.  Davis  &  Co.,  John  Albrighton  & 
Co.,  J.  Albrighton,  Peter  Shupp,  dry  goods  and  groceries; 
S.  Weil,  Freeman  &  Lees,  Priester  Schloss  &  Co.,  cloth- 
iers; J.  Y.  Wren,  machinist  and  foundry;  H.  Hudson, 
David  B.  Williams,  painters  and  decorators;  E.  W.  Beck- 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  87 

with,  photographer;  Thos.  Dodson,  carpenter;  John 
Lees,  James  Eley,  saloons  and  restaurants;  Geo.  P. 
Richards,  liquors;  M.  M.  Weir  &  Son,  Frantz  House, 
hotel;  Frank  Chelius,  tobacco  and  cigars;  N.  Vanloon, 
Wm.  Brown,  John  Hummel,  Miner  Nogle,  livery  stables; 
Dooley  &  Nealon,  J.  M.  Williams,  Joseph  Switzer,  cabi- 
netmakers and  undertakers;  Tuttle,  Edgar  and  Har- 
rower,  building  materials  and  flour  and  feed;  Brown  & 
Mangan,  Marx  Weil,  Harris  &  Morgan,  Lewis  Gorham, 
butchers;  T.  G.  Jenkins,  marble  dealer;  French  &  Levi, 
real  estate  and  insurance;  A.  F.  Levi,  books;  Carter  & 
Co.,  fruits  and  vegetables;  O.  P.  Gould,  flour  and  feed; 
M.  N.  Madden,  confectionery  and  canned  goods;  L. 
Boughtin,  blacksmith  and  wheelwright,  J.  M.  Connor, 
harness. 


Chapter   XIII. 

The  War  of  the  Rebellion — Captain  Gaylord — Copperheads — 
Fishing  Creek  Confederacy — Skulkers — Funeral  of  First  Vic- 
tim— Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt — An  Incident — Bounty  Bonds 
— Railroad  Riots  of  1877 — Acts  of  Lawlessness — Arrival  of 
Troops — The  Molly  Maguires — Killing  of  Dunleavy. 

ON  April  12,  1 86 1,  with  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumpter 
at  Charleston  Harbor,  South  Carolina,  began  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion  which  was  destined  for  five  long 
dreary  years,  to  spread  death,  destruction  and  misery 
over  all  the  land.  In  that  war,  Plymouth  furnished  her 
full  quota  of  men  in  support  of  the  Union,  some  of  whom 
are  now  sleeping  in  unmarked  graves  or  among  the  "un- 
known" in  the  South;  among  that  number  being  Captain 
Asher  Gaylord,  of  whom  mention  has  been  already  made. 
In  this  connection,  a  short  time  prior  to  his  last  bat- 
tle, Capt.  Gaylord  who  was  at  home  recuperating  from 


88  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

wounds  he  had  received,  paid  me  three  dollars  for  a 
sword  I  had,  and  which  he  doubtless  carried  at  the  time 
of  his  death. 

While  Plymouth  had  many  loyal  sons  during  that 
war,  she  also,  like  many  other  communities,  had  within 
her  boundaries  a  few  "Copperheads;"  so  named  from  the 
venomous  characteristics  of  that  reptile  which,  lying  con- 
cealed in  the  grass  was  ever  ready  at  an  opportune  mo- 
ment to  inject  its  deadly  venom.  A  colony  of  those  cop- 
perheads near  the  close  of  the  war,  formed  an  encamp- 
ment back  of  Bloomsburg  in  Columbia  County,  known  as 
the  Fishing  Creek  Confederacy,  and  were  organized  and 
armed,  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  draft.  It  became 
necessary  for  the  government  to  send  U.  S.  troops  there 
to  disperse  them. 

During  that  period,  some  few — now-would-be 
patriots, — found  the  climate  of  Canada,  or  of  distant 
states,  more  congenial  to  their  health,  and  a  few  in  Ply- 
mouth were  arrested  for  acts  of  disloyalty. 

Among  the  first  victims  from  Plymouth  of  that  war, 
was  George  Chamberlin,  a  son  of  the  old  doctor,  who 
died  in  camp  and  his  body  was  brought  home  for  burial. 
The  funeral  was  held  on  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  Metho- 
dist Church  which  was  crowded  to  overflowing.  Rev. 
Thos.  P.  Hunt,  a  Presbyterian  minister  from  Wyoming, 
who  was  chaplain  of  the  same  regiment  officiated  at  the 
services.  Rev.  Hunt  was  a  small  hunchback  man  who, 
by  force  of  character  had  earned  a  wide  reputation.  His 
eye  was  penetrating,  and  his  tongue,  which  he  was  utterly 
fearless  in  using,  was  sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword. 

On  this  particular  occasion,  his  discourse  was  more 
patriotic  than  theologic  and  it  gave  so  great  offense  to 
one  old  gentleman  present,  that  he  arose  in  his  seat  and 
protested  against  what  he  called  a  prostitution  of  the 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,    Pa.  89 

pulpit.  As  he  started  down  the  aisle  to  leave  the  church, 
the  old  doctor  and  chief  mourner,  who  was  intensely 
loyal,  shouted  out,  "Give  the  old  rebel  hell."  The  ser- 
vices were  concluded  without  further  incident. 

Near  the  close  of  the  war,  when  conscription  became 
necessary  to  fill  up  the  depleted  ranks  of  the  armies,  in 
order  to  fill  the  quota  of  Plymouth,  the  School  Board  is- 
sued bounty  bonds  in  amounts  aggregating  upwards  of 
$15,000  to  supply  substitutes  for  those  unable  or  unwill- 
ing to  go. 

In  July,  1877,  almost  immediately  succeeding  the 
peaceful  enjoyments  incident  to  the  centennial  celebration 
of  our  national  independence,  the  country  was  startled 
at  the  outbreak  of  very  serious  rioting  by  the  railroad 
employes  in  Pittsburg.  These  outbreaks  of  lawlessness, 
like  an  epidemic  of  contagious  disease,  rapidly  spread 
over  near  the  entire  State.  Railroad  traflic  was  for  a 
time  interrupted,  employes  being  assaulted  and  engines 
and  cars  demolished.  Local  authorities  were  utterly  un- 
able to  cope  with  the  situation,  and  the  entire  national 
guard  of  the  State  was  called  into  service.  The  miners 
in  the  anthracite  regions  of  Schuylkill  and  Luzerne  and 
Lackawanna  Counties  were  at  the  time  on  strike  and 
soon  became  infected.  A  demon  like  spirit  seemed  to 
pervade  the  masses.  In  Scranton,  Mayor  McKune  had 
been  violently  assaulted,  and  a  posse  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens had  fired  upon  and  killed  several  of  the  rioters.  A 
passenger  train  on  the  L.  &  B.  R.  R.,  arriving  at  Ply- 
mouth from  Northumberland  in  the  evening  was  stoned 
and  the  train  obliged  to  remain  on  the  siding  at  the  depot. 
I  was  Burgess  at  the  time  and  a  committee  of  represen- 
tative citizens  reported  to  me,  their  fears  of  contemplated 
incendiarism  against  certain  of  the  properties  located 
here  and  connected  with  mining  industries,  and  requested 


90  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

me  to  officially  Invoke  protection  from  the  State.  I  tele- 
graphed the  State  authorities  and  soon  thereafter  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers  was  in  possession  of  the  town.  Great 
was  the  indignation  expressed  at  the  arrival  of  troops, 
and — as  also  occurred  in  more  recent  years — many 
anxious  inquiries  were  made  regarding  the  responsibility 
for  the  presence  here  of  troops.  The  answer  may  per- 
haps be  found  in  the  Adjutant  General's  report  for  that 
year. 

Governor  Hartranft,  who  had  hastened  home  from  a 
western  journey  at  the  commencement  of  the  troubles, 
had  by  this  time  assumed  control  of  the  situation,  and 
by  a  singular  conincidence,  Brigadier  General  E.  W. 
Matthews,  a  former  school  teacher  in  Plymouth,  was  in 
charge  of  the  troops  which  invaded  the  town.  In  front 
of  the  engine  of  the  train  which  carried  the  troops  was 
placed  a  gun,  and  at  Nanticoke  several  companies  were 
disembarked,  and  as  skirmishers,  during  the  night,  pro- 
ceeded up  the  road,  taking  into  custody  every  man 
caught  out  of  doors.  Near  a  hundred  of  these  night 
prowlers  were  thus  captured,  quite  a  number  in  Plymouth, 
some  of  whom  were  carried  to  Scranton,  there  to  give  an 
account  of  their  actions. 

The  troops  remained  stationed  here,  and  in  the  lo- 
cality for  several  weeks,  the  staff  officers  using  the  stalled 
railroad  cars  for  their  headquarters. 

During  this  period,  occurred  the  trials  and  executions 
of  the  notorious  Molly  Maguires,  an  organized  band 
of  assassins  which,  for  a  number  of  years  had  terrorized 
all  the  counties  in  the  anthracite  coal  region.  It  was  a 
secret  organization  whose  members  were  bound  together 
by  oaths  and  having  signs  and  passwords,  among  whom 
assassination  of  objectionable  persons  was  but  a  mere 
pastime. 


Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,    Pa.  91 

So  powerful  had  this  dangerous  organization  become, 
that  it  required  several  years  of  patient  effort  on  the  part 
of  skilled  detectives,  under  the  auspices  of  Franklin  B. 
Gowen,  president  of  the  Reading  Railroad  Company,  to 
unearth  and  disband  them.  Many  were  arrested  and  sen- 
tenced to  long  terms  of  imprisonment,  and  near  a  dozen 
of  them  were  executed  in  the  several  counties.  Some  of 
the  members  of  this  nefarious  gang  were  located  in  Ply- 
mouth, and  I  still  have  in  my  possession  as  relics,  quite  a 
choice  collection  of  murderous  lead  and  brass  knuckles, 
and  leaded  billies  which  were  captured  by  the  policemen 
of  the  town  during  those  troublous  times.  One  of  their 
number  named  Dunleavy,  was  mysteriously  shot  one  even- 
ing in,  a  saloon  on  East  Main  Street,  which  incident  had 
the  effect  of  putting  a  quietus  on  the  band  in  Plymouth. 


Chapter    XIV. 

The  Avondale  Disaster^Typhoid  Fever  Epidemic — The  Changes 
in  Population — A  Filial  Tribute — Conclusion. 

P  LYMOUTH  among  other  means,  has  gained  a  wide 
notoriety  throughout  the  country  by  reason  of  her 
misfortunes  and  calamities.  One  of  these  occurred  about 
10  o'clock  on  Monday  morning,  September  6,  1869,  when 
a  fire  broke  out  at  the  Avondale  Shaft  which  was  known 
also  as  the  Steuben  Coal  Co.,  which,  in  its  terrible  results 
gave  a  shock  to  the  entire  country,  and  spread  a  pall  of 
grief  over  the  whole  valley. 

The  fire  originated  from  a  ventilating  furnace  at  the 
foot  of  the  shaft  and  was  thence  communicated  to  the 
breaker  located  directly  over  it,  causing  the  death  by 
asphyxiation  of  no  persons  in  the  mine  and  leaving  des- 
titute 72  widows  and  153  orphaned  children.    Appeals  to 


92  Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa. 

the  country  at  large  were  made  for  relief  of  the  destitute, 
which  was  generously  responded  to,  to  the  amount  of 
$155,825.10. 

Again,  on  the  loth  of  April  1885,  there  suddenly 
broke  out  one  of  the  most  serious  epidemics  of  typhoid 
fever  on  record.  Its  origin  was  traced  to  a  typhoid  fever 
patient  living  in  a  house  which  was  located  near  the  source 
of  the  town's  water  supply.  The  accumulated  deadly  germs 
emanating  from  this  patient  which  had  been  cast  upon 
the  snow  and  frozen  ground  during  the  preceding  month, 
were  thence  washed  by  the  rains  and  melting  snow  into 
the  stream  which  supplied  the  town  with  water.  So 
rapid  and  virulent  was  the  disease,  that  fifty  cases  a  day 
developed,  and  some  1200  persons  were  stricken,  among 
whom  occurred  over  100  deaths.  The  doctors  of  the 
town  were  unable  to  cope  with  it,  and  the  suffering 
throughout  the  town  was  intense.  Four  and  five  cases 
were  to  be  found  in  a  single  house  and  in  some  instances 
as  many  as  three  in  a  single  room.  The  good  people  of 
Philadelphia  came  to  the  rescue  and  sent  here  a  corps 
of  trained  medical  attendants  besides  rendering  substan- 
tial financial  assistance.  The  High  School  building  on 
Shawnee  Avenue  was  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  many 
of  the  patients  were   removed  there. 

Among  the  many  wonderful  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  Plymouth  within  the  lifetime  of  its  oldest 
residents,  none  are  perhaps  so  marked  as  in  that  of  its 
inhabitants.  From  a  mere  hamlet,  composed  mostly  of 
Connecticut  Settlers  or  their  descendants,  every  one  of 
whom  was  well  known  to  each  other,  it  has  grown  to  a 
heterogeneous  population  of  some  17,000 — the  dimen- 
sions of  a  third  class  city.  The  changes  in  the  char- 
acter, manners  and  habits  of  the  population  have  oc- 
curred at  regular  intervals,  and  bear  a  striking  resem- 


Reminiscences    of  Plymouth,   Pa.  93 

blance  to  the  migrations  which  have  characterized  the 
world's  history,  and  verifies  the  truth  of  the  saying,  that 
"westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

At  the  commencement  of  the  extensive  developments 
of  the  coal  industry  in  the  town  and  valley,  the  popula- 
tion was  composed  largely  of  Irish  and  Germans,  drawn 
hither  by  those  operations.  These  in  a  few  years  gave 
place  to  the  English  and  Welsh,  and  they  in  turn  have 
been  largely  displaced  by  the  Slavonic  and  other  peoples 
of  eastern  and  southern  parts  of  Europe  who,  in  like 
manner  may  eventually  give  place  to  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  who  knows. 

Frequent  mention  of  my  father  has  been  made 
throughout  the  preceding  pages,  and  necessarily  it  could 
not  well  be  otherwise,  for  the  name  of  Samuel  French 
was  connected,  or  associated  with,  nearly  every  indus- 
trial and  business  enterprise  in  the  town  for  many  years, 
hence,  that  reference  was  not  the  result  of  studied  effort 
to  exalt  family  pride  and  needs  no  apology. 

In  closing  these  reminiscences  however,  a  filial  affec- 
tion for  a  kind  and  affectionate  parent,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  leading  and  respected  citizens  of  the  town, 
prompts  me  to  add  a  word  to  his  revered  mem- 
ory. He  was  born  in  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  July  6th, 
1803,  about  a  month  after  the  death  of  his  father,  who, 
by  a  singular  coincidence,  was  born  on  the  death  bed  of 
his  mother.  At  an  early  age  he  came  to  Plymouth, 
where  he  lived,  and  died  July  25th,  1866,  a  little  past 
the  age  of  63  years.  At  an  early  period  he  engaged 
in  the  business  of  mining  and  shipping  coal,  later,  in 
connection  with  mining,  farming  and  merchandising.  His 
mining  operations  he  conducted  until  within  a  few  years 
of  his  decease.  He  was  always  industrious — never  idle 
— and  by  his  industry  and  frugality  he  accumulated  sufli- 


94  Reminiscences    of   Plymouth,   Pa. 

cient  means  to  live  more  than  comfortably.  He  was 
kind,  indulgent  and  charitable,  attended  strictly  to  his 
own  business  and  enjoyed  the  esteem  and  respect  of  every- 
one. 

In  an  obituary  notice  of  him,  published  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  it  was  said  of  him,  that  "he  lived  and  died  an 
honest  man,"  and  what  better  eulogy,  or  more  noble 
heritage  can  be  bequeathed. 

Now  in  conclusion,  in  penning  these  reminiscences,  it 
has  been  my  aim  to  present  a  pen  picture  of  the  town  as  I 
remembered  it  in  boyhood  days.  In  locating  old  land- 
marks, and  gathering  data,  I  have  consulted  old  residents, 
records,  and  documents,  and  the  results  as  I  have  re- 
corded them,  I  believe  to  be  very  generally  authentic. 

The  scenes  and  incidents  related,  are  most  entirely 
those  of  my  own  personal  knowledge  of  the  occurrences, 
or,  as  I  have  heard  them  related  by  old  people. 

This  recital  of  former  scenes  and  incidents  relating 
to  my  native  town,  in  which  my  endeavor  has  been  to 
"Nothing  extenuate,  nor  set  down  aught  in  malice,"  I 
have  little  doubt  will  revive  in  the  minds  of  older  people, 
long  forgotten  memories  of  the  past,  and  perhaps,  in  a 
historical  sense,  may  not  be  entirely  uninteresting  to  the 
younger  generation;  and,  if  perhance  their  perusal  af- 
fords as  much  pleasure  to  the  reader,  as  the  recital  has 
afforded  pleasure  and  recreation  to  the  writer,  he  will  be 
in  a  measure  repaid  for  his  time  and  labor. 

'HThe  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them; 
The  good,  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 


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